Putin and Xi condemn Israel over its Iran strikes in phone call, Kremlin says
ST PETERSBURG/BEIJING (Reuters) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both condemned Israel on Thursday over its strikes on Iran and agreed that de-escalation was needed, the Kremlin said after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
Putin and Xi "strongly condemn Israel's actions, which violate the U.N. Charter and other norms of international law," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
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If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens,' he said. Speaking to reporters after his plane landed in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump said he doubted European negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire. '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 one,' Trump said. The president said he would not discuss the potential use of ground forces in Iran, and he again disagreed with his own national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, by insisting that Iran does have the capability to build a nuclear weapon. 'She's wrong,' Trump said. Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead. Trump has said that he will decide whether the U.S. will join Israel in its efforts within the next two weeks. 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A foreign ministry video also showed extensive damage to a nearby high-rise building that houses a branch of Israel's Interior Ministry. Haifa is home to Israel's busiest seaport and a naval base. Saar, speaking in Haifa, said he was very sceptical about Iran's intentions. 'We know from the record of Iran they are not negotiating honestly,' he said. Fars news agency quoted an Iranian military spokesman as saying Tehran's missile and drone attacks on Friday had used long-range and ultra-heavy missiles against military sites, defence industries and command and control centres. About 20 missiles were fired in those latest Iranian strikes, an Israeli military official said, and at least two people were hurt, according to the Israeli ambulance service. Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the U.N. Security Council his country would not stop its attacks 'until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled'. Iran's U.N. envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the U.S. may join the war. NUCLEAR RISKS The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned against attacks on nuclear facilities and called for maximum restraint. 'Armed attack on nuclear facilities… could result in radioactive releases with great consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the state which has been attacked,' Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Security Council. He spoke a day after an Israeli military official said it had been 'a mistake' for a military spokesperson to have said Israel had struck Bushehr, Iran's only nuclear power plant. He said he could neither confirm nor deny that Russian-built Bushehr, located on the Gulf coast, had been hit. Iran said on Friday its air defences had been activated in Bushehr, without elaborating. Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities but that it wants to avoid any nuclear disaster. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, also speaking at the world body's Security Council, said the Iran-Israel conflict could 'ignite a fire no one can control' and called on all parties to 'give peace a chance'. Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation. URANIUM ENRICHMENT A senior Iranian official told Reuters Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that any proposal for zero enrichment – not being able to enrich uranium at all – would be rejected, 'especially now under Israel's strikes'. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this. Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side.
