𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Israel and Iran’s air war entered a second week today as European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table.

Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. It says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks.

Israel this morning said Iran has launched new missile salvo. “Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the Israeli military said.

Australia this morning said it has suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, citing a deteriorating security situation as Israel hit Iran’s nuclear facilities again.

Foreign minister Penny Wong said Australian defence personnel and aircraft were being deployed to the Middle East as part of contingency plans to help evacuate its citizens and diplomats when the airspace opens. They would not be used for combat, she added.

“We have a very volatile security situation in Iran,” Ms Wong said during a media conference.

“We do not have to cast our minds back too far in history to understand the risk to foreign officials in Iran in times of unrest.”

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.

Three diplomats told Reuters that Mr Araqchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks, which began last Friday.

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.

A regional diplomat close to Tehran said Mr Araqchi had told Mr Witkoff that Tehran “could show flexibility in the nuclear issue” if Washington pressured Israel to end the war.

A European diplomat said: “Araqchi told Witkoff Iran was ready to come back to nuclear talks, but it could not if Israel continued its bombing.”

Mr Araghchi was due today in Geneva to negotiate with European diplomats, the country’s first face-to-face talks in the crisis.

Israeli airstrikes reached the city of Rasht in Northern Iran, according to the Associated Press.

It’s unclear what the Israeli military is targeting in the city, the AP reports.

President Donald Trump is increasingly relying on a small group of advisers to decide whether or not to strike Iran, NBC News reports.

He’s also crowdsourcing opinions from various allies who don’t have formal positions in his administration, according to the outlet.

Earlier today, the president said he would make the call on whether to order US warplanes to strike Iranian nuclear sites depending on whether Tehran engages in talks over ending its nuclear weapons program.

“I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” he said.

The Israeli military intercepted an Iranian drone over the Dead Sea, according to a report from The Guardian.

Iranian state media said Israeli strikes hit an industrial complex in the Sefid-Rud area in Northern Iran, The New York Times reports.

State media also reported strikes around Rasht, a city in northern Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing backlash after describing the “personal cost” his family has paid for the war.

“There are people who were killed, families who grieved loved ones, I really appreciate that,” he said in a television interview at the site of a hospital destroyed by an Iranian missile strike.

“Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt,” he added. “This is the second time that my son Avner, due to missile threats and rocket fire, has cancelled a wedding. It is a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.”

Knesset member Gilad Kariv called the prime minister a “narcissist” following his remarks.

“I know many families who were not forced to postpone a wedding, but who will now never celebrate the weddings that were once meant to take place,” the lawmaker said, according to The Guardian.

Yehuda Cohen, whose son is being held hostage in Gaza, also criticized Netanyahu’s remarks, according to The New York Times. He said his son “can’t breathe, he can’t see daylight and has been in danger of death for more than 20 months.”