President Donald Trump warns that Iran has a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible US air strikes, a day after saying he would make a decision within a fortnight on whether to take military action.
“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters said when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that.
Israel’s armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warns that his country should be “ready for a prolonged campaign” against Iran, as the long-time foes exchanged fire for the eighth day.
“We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,” Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis.
In the past few hours, authorities have said at least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa when Iran fired a fresh barrage of missiles.
One projectile slammed into an area by the docks in Haifa on Friday afternoon (local time) where it damaged a building and blew out windows, littering the ground with rubble, AFP images showed.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it struck next to the Al-Jarina mosque.
Israel estimates its strikes on Iran have delayed Tehran’s potential to develop a nuclear weapon by “at least two or three years”, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.
“We already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” Saar told German newspaper Bild.
“The fact that we took out those people who led and pushed the weaponisation of the nuclear programme is extremely important.
“We already achieved a lot, but we will do whatever we can do. We will not stop until we will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat.”
Iran has been launching daily missile salvos at Israel for the past week since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on its nuclear and military facilities triggered war.
Zamir said the Israeli military had prepared for “years” for the campaign against Iran, even while Israeli troops continue their devastating offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
He said Israelis needed to brace for more difficulties, as the country comes under daily attack from Iranian ballistic missiles.
“Although we have made significant achievements, difficult days still lie ahead. We must remain alert and united until the mission is complete.”
The locations of missile strikes in Israel are subject to strict military censorship rules and are not always provided in detail to the public.
A spokesman for Haifa’s Rambam hospital said 19 people had been injured in the city, and one was in a serious condition.
A military official said “approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel” in the latest Iranian salvo.
More than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones, according to Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate.
The directorate added that the country’s tax authority had received more than 25,000 claims linked to damage caused to buildings during the war.
Israel launched a massive wave of strikes against Iran on June 13, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran.
Residential areas in both countries have suffered, and Israel and Iran have traded accusations of targeting civilians.
At least 25 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian missile strikes, according to authorities.
Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not updated the toll since.
European powers are urging Iran to continue diplomacy with the United States to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear programme as Israel keeps up its bombardment of the Islamic republic.
“The good result today is that we leave the room with the impression that the Iranian side is ready to further discuss all the important questions,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, alongside his British, French and EU counterparts after talks in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“It is of great importance that the United States takes part in these negotiations and the solution,” he added.
The statement, read by the four top diplomats in their native languages after the talks, expressed hope of further progress but did not make any mention of a breakthrough in the talks.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We are keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran, and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States.
“This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don’t see regional escalation of this conflict,” he added.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said there “can be no definitive solution through military means to the Iran nuclear problem”.
“Military operations can delay it but they cannot eliminate it.”
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Barrot also warned: “It is illusory and dangerous to want to impose a regime change from the outside. It is up to the people to decide their own destiny.
“We invited the Iranian minister to consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes, which we also hope for.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “Today the regional escalation benefits no one. We must keep the discussions open.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said earlier the Iranian delegation “emphasised that Iran has not left the negotiating table”.
After talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, Araghchi said Tehran was ready to “consider diplomacy” only once Israel’s “aggression is stopped”.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed ...
“We support the continuation of discussion with [Britain, France, Germany and the European Union] and express our readiness to meet again in the near future.”
Israel began its campaign on Friday last week saying the operation was aimed at halting Tehran from obtaining an atomic bomb, an ambition Iran denies having.
Iranian strikes launched in response have also caused damage in Israel.
- Agence France-Presse