Israel and Iran exchanged blows a week after the conflict began, while Donald Trump mulled US military intervention and new diplomatic steps appeared to be underway.
The US president has considered striking Iran, targeting its heavily defended Fordow uranium enrichment plant, which is located beneath a mountain and widely considered inaccessible to anything other than US bunker buster bombs.
He said he would decide within two weeks whether the US military would be directly involved in the conflict, given the “significant chance” of resuming dialogue on Tehran's nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is likely to travel to Geneva for meetings with top European Union diplomats and representatives of Britain, France and Germany.
However, in an interview aired on Friday, he said that “in the current situation, when the attacks of the Zionist regime continue, we do not seek negotiations with anyone.”
“I believe that as a result of this resistance (by Iran), we will gradually see countries begin to distance themselves from the aggression carried out by the regime, and calls to end this war are already being heard and will grow,” he added, noting that Tehran views “the Americans as accomplices and collaborators of the Zionist regime.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he had met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Representative Steve Witkoff at the White House to discuss the possibility of reaching an agreement to resolve the conflict.
Israel said it carried out airstrikes on Iran on Friday morning, with more than 60 aircraft hitting what it said were missile manufacturing facilities.
The strike also reportedly hit the headquarters of Iran's Defense Innovation and Research Organization, known by its Farsi acronym SPND. The U.S. has linked the agency to alleged Iranian research and testing into the possible development of nuclear explosive devices.
Israeli airstrikes reached the Caspian Sea city of Rasht on Friday morning, Iranian media reported.
The Israeli military has warned citizens to leave the area around the industrial city of Rasht, but with the internet in Iran cut off from the outside world, it is unclear how many people saw the warning.
In Israel, the Magen David Adom emergency medical service said rockets hit a residential area in the south of the country, damaging buildings including a six-story building.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
