An Iraqi Shiite cleric holds a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei throughout a protest towards Israeli assaults on a number of cities throughout Iran, at a bridge resulting in the fortified Inexperienced Zone the place the U.S. Embassy is positioned in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, June 19, 2025.
Hadi Mizban/AP
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Hadi Mizban/AP
PARIS – International ministers from the UK, France, and Germany are assembly with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva Friday, marking probably the most important diplomatic talks between Tehran and Western governments since Israel launched a shock offensive towards Iran one week in the past.
The talks revive what’s generally known as the “E3,” a diplomatic group made up of the UK, France, and Germany, which led earlier negotiations with Iran within the early 2000s and helped dealer the 2015 nuclear deal below President Obama’s administration.
British International Secretary David Lammy referred to as the scenario “perilous” after assembly Thursday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump’s particular envoy to the Center East, Steve Witkoff.
“A window now exists inside the subsequent two weeks to attain a diplomatic resolution,” Lammy mentioned, referencing President Trump’s announcement that he would decide on whether or not the U.S. will strike Iran by early July.
Trump’s assertion, learn out loud by White Home Press Secretary Karoline Levitt on Thursday, tamped down hypothesis that the U.S. was poised to help Israel in its offensive by placing an Iranian nuclear facility.
Lammy and his French and German counterparts are urging Iran to return to nuclear negotiations. Iran, for its half, has signaled resistance whereas below assault.
“We don’t wish to negotiate with anybody whereas the Zionist regime’s aggression continues,” Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned on state tv Friday. He accused the U.S. of being complicit in Israeli strikes, citing social media posts from Trump earlier this week wherein he appeared to provide the U.S. partial credit score for management of Iran’s airspace.
“The demand for an finish to this conflict has already begun,” Araghchi added. “It reveals how efficient the resistance of the Iranian folks has been and can be.”
In France, International Minister Jean-Noël Barrot defended his nation’s impartial stance, saying on nationwide tv Thursday that “France is at all times on the aspect of worldwide regulation” and “has not participated in any preventive conflict.” He famous that 1,000 French nationals stay in Iran.
Germany’s International Minister Johann Wadephul, in the meantime, mentioned Berlin was open to additional discussions with Iran if there’s a “critical willingness” from Tehran to supply assurances on its nuclear and missile packages.
These assurances, in accordance with Wadephul, would imply Iran renouncing enrichment of nuclear materials that may result in weaponization and would additionally embrace lowering its missile program.
Israel and Iran traded extra strikes in a single day into Friday, with the Israeli army saying it struck dozens of Iranian army targets round Tehran and western Iran. In Israel, no less than 5 folks have been injured after an Iranian missile struck a residential constructing within the southern metropolis of Be’er Sheva. The strike comes only a day after an Iranian missile hit Soroka Medical Middle, the biggest hospital in southern Israel.
At the least 24 folks have been killed by Iranian missile and drone strikes and a whole lot extra injured for the reason that begin of the conflict, in accordance with Israel’s prime minister’s workplace.
Israel’s strikes on Iran, in the meantime, have killed greater than 200 folks, in accordance with Iran’s Well being Ministry. However an impartial group referred to as the Human Rights Activists Information Company says it has recorded 657 deaths in Iran based mostly on nongovernmental sources.
NPR’s Rob Schmitz contributed reporting from Berlin.
