The call for restraint by emergency international calls seems deaf, as world brackets exacerbate conflicts in the Middle East.
All eyes are focused on the White House as U.S. President Donald Trump praised the direct strike against Iran. Such an act will represent a huge deepening of our participation in the attacks so far limited to the ones between Iran and the United States allies Israel.
On June 18, 2025, after Israeli troops attacked Iran’s target, the smoke blanket above Tehran, Iran after the capital explosion.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
The Kremlin warned on Thursday that U.S. intervention in Iran would trigger a “terrible escalation” while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova told Reuters that the world is far away from nuclear disasters. Currently, Russia is in trouble in its own war in Ukraine, which also involves the struggle against major nuclear power plants.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired an emergency Cobra meeting – the country’s national crisis management system – his government worked to withdraw the families of staff at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.
The high-level intelligence conference follows Starmer’s arrival at the G7 summit in Canada, during which he joined other leaders of the organization to reiterate their “commitment to peace and stability”.
But the opportunity for diplomacy looks increasingly bleak as Iran and Israel continue to trade with increasingly deadly blows and leaders of the countries involved show no signs of retreating from the margins.
Trump still has no commander in his comments on whether the United States will attack Iran.
“I might do that. I mean, no one knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you that Iran has a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate,” he told reporters on Wednesday’s White House lawn.
“There will be big next week,” he added.
The president later said from the Oval Office that he likes to “make a final decision before it expires … because things have changed. Especially the war.”
“Dirty job”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has caused some controversy, saying in an interview Tuesday that Israel has done “dirty work” for other countries by strikes on Iran’s nuclear ruins.
“I can only say that I respect the most the most the truth that the Israeli army and the Israeli government have the courage to do so,” Melz told the German Broadcasting Corporation. Foreign ministers from Germany, France and Britain will meet with Iran on Friday.
Smoke rolled in Soroka Hospital in Belshba, southern Israel after the Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025.
John Wessels | AFP | Getty Images
Meanwhile, China’s Xinhua media service listed Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping’s statement that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is a “urgent priority” and that the use of force is not the right way to resolve the conflict.
Kremlin aides said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping held a phone call on Thursday, both strongly condemning Israel, saying the country’s actions in Iran “violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law.”
The leaders are all Iran’s allies, he said military operations will not solve the problems of Western and Israeli leaders’ nuclear program on Iran, and diplomacy is the only way forward.
Earlier this week, Trump demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender after commenting on his truth social platform earlier this week and warned the United States to have the ability to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei replied that any U.S. attack on Iran would suffer “irreparable damage” and trigger a wider war.
Overnight, Israel and Iran traded missile barrage, Israel strikes Iran’s Arak and Natanz nuclear facilities, while Iran says it attacks a hospital in the Negael region of Israel after targeting military sites.
Authorities said at least 30 people were injured during the strike in the hospital, and Israeli Defense Minister Katz said the Iranian leader “cannot exist again” after the attack.
