Tehran [Iran], June 21: Iran said on Friday it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel, as Europe tried to coax Tehran back into negotiations and the United States considers whether to get involved in the conflict.
A week into its campaign, Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran, and military facilities in western and central Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the U.S. "until Israeli aggression stops".
But he later arrived in Geneva for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue.
"I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing, and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said.
Speaking to reporters after his plane landed in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump said he doubted European negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire.
"Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said.
The president said he would not discuss the potential use of ground forces in Iran, and he again disagreed with his own national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, by insisting that Iran does have the capability to build a nuclear weapon.
"She's wrong," Trump said.
Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead.
Trump has said that he will decide whether the U.S. will join Israel in its efforts within the next two weeks.
That will be enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses," he said on Friday.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
