DUBAI/JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a "substantial" chance of negotiations to end the conflict.
"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in the statement.
Iran and European diplomats said nuclear talks will be held in Geneva on Friday, bringing together top diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union as well as Tehran's Abbas Araghchi.
A hospital in southern Israel was hit as Iran fired a barrage of “dozens” of missiles, officials said Thursday, with impacts also reported in two Israeli towns close to commercial hub Tel Aviv.
The Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was left in flames, and its director Shlomi Codish said 40 people had sustained injuries.
“Several wards were completely demolished and there is extensive damage across the entire hospital,” he said.
Iran said the main target of its missile attack was not the hospital but a nearby military and intelligence base.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said “hospitals must be respected and protected,” citing international law.
UN rights chief Volker Turk urged restraint from both Iran and Israel, saying it is “appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran would pay a “heavy price.”
Speaking in Beersheba after the hospital strike, Netanyahu said Israel was “committed to destroying... the threat of a nuclear annihilation” as well as Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities.
His defense minister, Israel Katz, said Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “can no longer be allowed to exist.”
“Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed — he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals,” Katz told reporters. “Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.”
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States was aware of Khamenei’s location but would not kill him “for now.”
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned that any targeting of Iran’s “supreme religious and political leadership” would have “dire consequences on the region.”
Trump said Wednesday he was considering whether to join Israel’s strikes, and that Iran had reached out seeking negotiations on ending the conflict.
“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump told reporters. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”
Iran and European diplomats said nuclear talks will be held in Geneva on Friday, bringing together top diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union as well as Tehran’s Abbas Araghchi.
The Wall Street Journal reported Trump has told aides he has approved attack plans but is holding off to see if Iran will give up its nuclear program.
A key Iranian government body, the Guardian Council, warned against any US involvement in the war, threatening a “harsh response” if “the criminal American government and its stupid president... take action against Islamic Iran.”
Tehran ally Moscow said any US military action “would be an extremely dangerous step,” while pro-Iran groups in Iraq threatened retaliatory attacks.
A senior US diplomat, Tom Barrack, warned the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah against getting involved in the war, which he said in Beirut “would be a very, very, very bad decision.”
The Israeli military said it struck an “inactive nuclear reactor” in Arak in overnight raids on Iran that also saw the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz targeted again.
It said the strike on the Arak site was carried out “to prevent the reactor from being restored.”
The military said its fighter jets hit “dozens” of sites in the overnight raids.
Iranian police announced the arrest on Thursday of 24 people accused of spying for Israel and “trying to disturb public opinion and to tarnish and destroy the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” according to a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.
Authorities in both Israel and Iran have announced arrests for espionage and other charges since the war began on Friday.
Trump: 'substantial chance' of negotiations to end conflict
US President Donald Trump said he will decide whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a "substantial" chance of negotiations to end the conflict.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump, saying there had been "a lot of speculation" about whether the United States would be "directly involved" in the conflict.
"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in the statement.
The announcement could lower the temperature and give space for diplomacy.
US and Iran keep discussion channels open, according to reports
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have spoken by phone several times since Israel began its strikes on Iran last week, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, Reuters reported.
According to three diplomats, Araqchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks.
They said the talks included a brief discussion of a US proposal given to Iran at the end of May that aims to create a regional consortium that would enrich uranium outside of Iran, an offer Tehran has so far rejected.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization says no threat from Arak facility
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said there was no threat or harm to resident in the vicinity of the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor, which was hit by Israeli airstrikes.
The organizaton said there were also no casualties after the site was evacuated before the strikes.
The Israeli military said it earlier targeted the site, also known as Khondab, which includes a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.
It was the latest attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel also said it had struck Iran's Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites.
China urges Israel to stop fighting
Guo Jiakun, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said China strongly called on all parties involved in the conflict, especially Israel, to put the interests of the region's people first, and to immediately cease fire and stop fighting.
He added that the current situation in the Middle East region was “tense and sensitive,” and at risk of “getting out of control.”
Russia’s Putin dodges active involvement in Iran-Israel war
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the Iranian people were consolidating around the leadership in Tehran.
Israel Katz accused Iran’s leader of “some of the most serious war crimes.” (FILE/AFP)
Israeli minister accuses Iran’s Khamenei of war crimes after hospital strike
Israel’s defense minister said Thursday Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be “held accountable” after an Iranian strike on a hospital in Israel, adding he had ordered the army to “intensify strikes” on the Islamic republic.
“These are some of the most serious war crimes - and Khamenei will be held accountable for his actions,” Israel Katz said, adding that he and the prime minister ordered the military “to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against the power infrastructure in Tehran, in order to eliminate the threats to the state of Israel and to shake the Ayatollahs’ regime”.
Iranian official warns US against involvement in Israel-Iran conflict
Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned against any direct US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, saying Iran had “all the necessary options on the table,” in comments reported by Iranian state media on Thursday.
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A missile is fired from Iran toward Israel on June 18, 2025, on the sixth day of fighting between the two foes. (FILE / AFP)
At least 47 injured in Israel after Iran missile attack: rescuers
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said Thursday that at least 47 people were injured in Iran’s latest missile strikes, updating an earlier toll and reporting 18 more injured “while running to shelter.”
Three people are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition, an MDA spokesperson said in as statement, adding that “an additional 42 people sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and blast trauma, and 18 civilians were injured while running to shelter.”
Fleeing Tehran
Arezou, a 31-year-old Tehran resident, told Reuters by phone that she had made it out of the city to the nearby resort town of Lavasan.
“My friend’s house in Tehran was attacked and her brother was injured. They are civilians,” she said. “Why are we paying the price for the regime’s decision to pursue a nuclear program?”
In Israel, sirens rang out anew at dusk on Wednesday warning of further incoming Iranian missiles. A motorist was injured by missile debris, Israeli medics said. The army later advised civilians they could leave protected areas, signalling the threat had passed.
At Ramat Gan train station east of Tel Aviv, people were lying on city-supplied mattresses or sitting in the odd camping chair, with plastic water bottles strewn about.
“I feel scared, overwhelmed. Especially because I live in a densely populated area that Iran seems to be targeting, and our city has very old buildings, without shelters and safe spaces,” said Tamar Weiss, clutching her four-month-old daughter.
Iran has reported at least 224 deaths in Israeli attacks, mostly civilians, but has not updated that toll for days.
Since Friday, Iran has fired around 400 missiles at Israel, some 40 of which have pierced air defenses, killing 24 people, all of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
Leverage
Iran has been exploring options for leverage, including veiled threats to hit the global oil market by restricting access to the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important shipping artery for oil.
Inside Iran, authorities are intent on preventing panic and shortages. Fewer images of destruction have been allowed to circulate than in the early days of the bombing, when state media showed pictures of explosions, fires and flattened apartments. A ban on filming by the public has been imposed.
The communications ministry said on Wednesday that temporary restrictions on Internet access would be imposed to help prevent “the enemy from threatening citizens’ lives and property.”
Iran’s ability to hit back hard at Israel through strikes by proxy militia close to Israeli borders has been limited by the devastating blows Israel has dealt to Tehran’s regional allies — Hamas and Hezbollah — in conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon since 2023.
