Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Iran amid a European bid to contain the military escalation between the Middle Eastern powers.
As U.S. President Donald Trump weighs joining the Israeli bombings of Iran, European leaders are seeking a last-ditch diplomatic solution to the conflict. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and the U.K., along with EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas, were meeting with Iranian representatives in Geneva on Friday.
Israel, however, has shown little interest in a diplomatic solution, and Sa’ar said Friday that he does not “believe so much in diplomacy with Iran.”
“All diplomatic efforts until now were not successful,” Sa’ar said in an interview with the Axel Springer Global Reporters network, of which POLITICO is a member. “They usually use these talks in order to deceive, in order to waste time.”
When asked what Iran must do for a negotiated solution to the conflict, he responded: “We are not dealing with negotiations with Iran” and reiterated Trump’s call for “unconditional surrender.”
Sa’ar said the Europeans did not invite him to the Geneva meeting, but he spoke with the French foreign minister about it, and may speak with the German foreign minister later Friday.
While Israel has destroyed several Iranian nuclear facilities over the past week, it may need American assistance to wipe out an Iranian nuclear enrichment site at Fordo, which is buried deep underground.
Sa’ar reiterated multiple times that “America will take its own decisions” with regard to Iran. He also said that Israeli strikes had already achieved significant progress in destroying the Iranian nuclear program — and “delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” he added.
When asked how long the Israeli operation will last and whether there is a limit, Sa’ar said, “We will take actions until we fully complete the job.”
To that end, he insisted that Israel does not aim to change the regime in Tehran but rather to eliminate nuclear and missile programs. Other Israeli officials have more directly threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, however.
On Thursday, the White House announced that Trump will decide within the next two weeks whether to order a U.S. strike, as he believes “there’s a substantial chance of negotiations.”
Iran has hit back at Israel’s week-long assault by firing volleys of its own missiles at targets from Tel Aviv to Be’er Sheva. Ahead of Friday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “there is no room for negotiations” until Israel ceases its strikes.
The post Israel trashes diplomacy with Iran as Europeans meet Tehran envoy in Geneva appeared first on Politico.
