Iran diplomacy stalls as Israel steps up attacks on nuclear facilities

Israel's military said it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed four senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks on Saturday as the fighting between the two nations continued into a second week.

It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was struck in the first 24 hours of the conflict as part of Israel's goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear program.

Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has been wondering whether to involve the U.S. in Israel's bombing campaign, indicating in his latest comments that he could take a decision before his previously stated two-week deadline.

Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar said his country's week-long campagn would continue. "We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat," he told German newspaper Bild.

Global diplomacy has stepped up, with many countries warning of dire consequences if there is not a de-escalation. 

Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, said: "The use of force is not the right way to resolve international disputes. It will only exacerbate hatred and conflict. 

"The situation in the region cannot be allowed to slide into an unknown abyss. The parties to the conflict, Israel in particular, should cease fire as soon as possible to prevent the situation from escalating and to avoid any spillover of the fighting."

Swiss diplomacy

Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday, urging him to resume U.S. talks that had been derailed by Israel's attacks.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said "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."

But Araghchi insisted after the meeting that "we're not prepared to negotiate with them (the United States) anymore, as long as the aggression continues." 

Trump was dismissive of European diplomacy efforts, saying: "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."

Trump also said he's unlikely to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table. "If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do," he said. 

Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of Iran's nuclear program, questioning in particular the country's accelerated uranium enrichment. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent. However, it added there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.

The agency's chief Rafael Grossi said it was "pure speculation" to say how long it would take Iran to develop weapons.

Turkish talks

Russia has repeatedly told Israel that there is no evidence Iran is aiming to get nuclear weapons, Sky News Arabia on Saturday quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying in an interview.

"Russia, as well as the IAEA, has never had any evidence that Iran is preparing to obtain nuclear weapons, as we have repeatedly put the Israeli leadership on notice," said Putin.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the conflict was at a "perilous moment" and it was "hugely important that we don't see regional escalation."

Araghchi arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the Iran-Israel conflict.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East to "total disaster" by attacking Iran on June 13.

"Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor," he said at the OIC summit.