Iran’s Araghchi says it will be ‘very dangerous’ if US gets involved in war
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said it would be “very, very dangerous for everyone” if the United States becomes actively involved in the war with Israel, reports the Associated Press (AP).
He spoke to reporters in Istanbul on his way home from talks in Geneva.
Araghchi said American military involvement “would be very unfortunate”.
Key events
Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors have expressed concerns to UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi about the safety of nuclear facilities close to their countries amid the Israeli-Iranian crisis, Qatar state news agency reported on Saturday.
Reuters reports that the ambassadors warned Grossi during a meeting in Vienna about the “dangerous repercussions” of targeting nuclear facilities.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency previously warned that attacks on nuclear facilities could result in “radioactive releases with great consequences within and beyond boundaries” of the state attacked.
The potential consequences of an attack on the Bushehr facility on the Gulf coast, Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant, have long been a concern in the Gulf states.
Iranians on Saturday began to see some internet access restored, giving people the opportunity to call friends and family for the first time in days, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Those in the diaspora posted on social media about connecting to FaceTime or WhatsApp to call relatives they had been worried about.
Government officials had disconnected phone and web services earlier in the week for the more than 90 million people who live in Iran, citing cybersecurity threats from Israel.
The move left civilians unaware of when and where Israel would strike next, despite Israeli forces issuing warnings through their Persian-language online channels.
When the missiles landed, lack of internet connection meant not knowing for hours or days if their family or friends are among the victims.
Tasnim news agency, which is closely affiliated with Iran’s government, quoted the information minister as saying that access to “international” internet should be restored across the country by 8pm.
Syria’s security forces have detained Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of toppled leader Bashar al-Assad, state news agency Sana said on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Wassim al-Assad was sanctioned by the United States in 2023 for leading a paramilitary force backing Assad’s army and for trafficking drugs including the amphetamine-like drug captagon.
Bashar al-Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led rebel insurgency in December and fled to Moscow. Most of his family members and inner circle either fled Syria or went underground.
Syria’s new security forces have been pursuing members of the former administration – mainly those involved in the feared security branches accused of rights abuses.
Rights groups have called for a fully fledged transitional justice process to hold them to account.
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said it would be “very unfortunate and very dangerous for everyone” if the US got involved in the war with Israel. He said Iran was exercising its right to self-defence against Israel’s “unprovoked” bombardment, which would need to stop before Iran returned to negotiations.
He spoke to reporters in Istanbul on his way home from talks in Geneva, which failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough. You can listen to his comments here:
Four Revolutionary Guards killed in north-west Iran: media
Four members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in an Israeli attack on a training centre in north-west Iran, the ISNA news agency reported.
“Four people have died as martyrs and three others were wounded in an Israeli attack against a training camp of the Revolutionary Guards in Tabriz,” ISNA reported.
The city has been repeatedly targeted since Israel began striking Iran more than a week ago.
The UNHCR said on Saturday that the intensity of the attacks is already triggering population movements in Israel and Iran: Some from Tehran and other parts of Iran have crossed into neighboring countries while shelling has caused people in Israel to seek shelter elsewhere in the country and, in some cases, abroad.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the UN agency urged states in the region to respect the right of people to seek safety where needed and to facilitate humanitarian access.
“This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss, and displacement — we cannot allow another refugee crisis to take root,” the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said.
He added:
The time to de-escalate is right now. Once people are forced to flee, there’s no quick way back – and all too often, the consequences last for generations.
The Italian foreign ministry said 24 Italians, who are the second group to evacuate via Azerbaijan’s Baku, are on their way back home, reports the Associated Press (AP).
“After about nine hours of travel and a very long wait at the border, the group was welcomed by representatives of the Italian embassy in Baku, and then moved to the airport of the Azerbaijani capital to wait to return to Italy with the first available flights,” the ministry said.
The group included an Italian doctor and his partner, an Iranian woman, and their 18-month-old child, the ministry said.
Another convoy from Iran could depart from Tehran as early as Monday, reports the AP.
The first group that arrived in Italy via Baku in recent days had 34 Italian nationals.
Italy’s foreign ministry also said it chartered a flight to help evacuate its citizens from Israel via Sharm el-sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday.
Turkey’s Erdoğan says Israel attacks aimed to sabotage Iran nuclear talks
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that Israel’s attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations, and it showed Israel did not want to resolve issues through diplomacy, reports Reuters.
Speaking at a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdoğan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.
He also called on Muslim countries to increase their efforts to impose punitive measures against Israel on the basis of international law and United Nations’ resolutions.
Agence France-Presse has more on the comments made by Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan that we reported on earlier (see 10.05am BST).
Speaking at a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Fidan said:
Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour …
There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem.
He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran, adding:
We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardise regional and global security.
Iran’s Araghchi says it will be ‘very dangerous’ if US gets involved in war
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said it would be “very, very dangerous for everyone” if the United States becomes actively involved in the war with Israel, reports the Associated Press (AP).
He spoke to reporters in Istanbul on his way home from talks in Geneva.
Araghchi said American military involvement “would be very unfortunate”.
At least 430 people killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since start of conflict with Israel, Iranian media reports
At least 430 people were killed and 3,500 were injured in Iran since the start of the Israeli-Iranian conflict on 13 June, Iranian state-run Nour News reported on Saturday, citing the country’s health ministry.
Israel dragging Middle East into ‘total disaster’, says Turkey
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan told his counterparts from Muslim countries that Israel was dragging the region into “total disaster” with its attacks on Iran, and added world powers must prevent the war from spiralling into a wider conflict, reports Reuters.
Speaking at a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Fidan called on Muslim countries to stand with Iran against Israel, and said the region had an “Israel problem” after its assault on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
UAE warns against prolonged Iran-Israel war
A senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official has urged a quick end to the Iran-Israel conflict, warning of a “difficult aftermath” if the conflict is prolonged, reports Agence Fance-Presse (AFP).
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said the war was “setting back” the wealthy Gulf region.
“The longer a war takes, the more dangerous it becomes,” he told journalists in a briefing on Friday. “I think any extended confrontation or war between Israel and Iran will only bring a very difficult aftermath.”
US president Donald Trump has given Iran a “maximum” of two weeks to negotiate before possible US airstrikes, but Tehran said it would not hold talks while under attack.
“De-escalation is extremely important,” Gargash said. “We still feel that there is a path back to negotiations on these issues.”
The Middle East is still dealing with the repercussions of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled Saddam Hussein but left the country divided and destabilised.
AFP reports that one major risk of the current war is disruption to the strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, which carries one-fifth of global oil output.
“This war flies in the face of the regional order the Gulf countries want to build, which is focused on regional prosperity,” Gargash said. “We feel that this is setting us back, not only us in the UAE, but I would say the region.”
Israel’s first responders said on Saturday that a residential building in north Israel had been hit by a drone after the army reported an intrusion in the Beit Shean valley, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“A drone strike hit a two-storey residential building in northern Israel”, the Magen David Adom said in a statement, adding that its rescue teams found no visible casualties as they arrived.
Pjotr Sauer
On the topic of Russia and Iran, my colleague Pjotr Sauer has written an analysis on how the Iranian regime collapse would be serious blow for Russia:
The Kremlin is unlikely to arm Iran, let alone get involved in the fighting, said a Russian source with ties to the foreign ministry. “Moscow clearly doesn’t want conflict with Trump and is also doing everything it can to urge the US to return to diplomacy. But Russia’s priority remains avoiding any moves that could undermine its warming ties with the new US administration or prompt a shift in Trump’s stance on Ukraine,” the source said.
Still, the Kremlin stands to lose from a prolonged US-backed Israeli military campaign that devastates Iran’s economic and military infrastructure and threatens the survival of the regime in Tehran.
“If the current Iranian regime collapses, it would be both a strategic and reputational blow for Russia,” the source with ties to the Russian foreign ministry said.
“A bigger loss than the fall of Damascus,” the source added, referring to Moscow’s diminished influence over Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, a longtime Kremlin ally whose eventual defeat marked the end of a costly decade-long Russian intervention.
Putin says Russia has told Israel there’s no evidence Iran wants nuclear weapons – reports
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, according to Reuters.
“Russia, as well as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), has never had any evidence that Iran is preparing to obtain nuclear weapons, as we have repeatedly put the Israeli leadership on notice,” Sky News Arabia quoted Putin as saying.
Russia is ready to support Iran in developing a peaceful nuclear programme, Putin was quoted as saying, adding that Iran has the right to do so.
Speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg on Friday, Putin said Russia was sharing its ideas on how to stop the bloodshed in the Iran-Israel conflict with both sides. He did not give details of those ideas.
