Donald Trump has said Europe can’t help in brokering an end to the conflict between Iran and Israel, just after UK and EU foreign ministers failed to make progress in a meeting with Tehran’s top diplomat.
The foreign secretaries of the UK France, Germany and the EU’s High Representative met with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday.
The meeting ended with no future negotiations planned and Araghchi said his country would not consider negotiations while being attacked by Israel.
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Trump said it is a “very hard” request to ask Israel to stop.
He added: “It’s a little bit hard to get somebody to stop,” saying, “Israel’s doing very well in terms of war, and I think you would say that Iran is doing less well.”
He said Iran “doesn’t want to speak to Europe” and that the country “wants to speak to us”.
He adds: “Europe is not going to be able to help at this point”.
Hopes weren’t high ahead of the meeting, but all parties insisted a negotiation was the only way to end the conflict.
In a joint written statement issued after the talks ended, the three European nations and the EU said that they “discussed avenues towards a negotiated solution to Iran’s nuclear program.”
They reiterated their concerns about the “expansion” of the nuclear program, adding that it has “no credible civilian purpose.”
Trump has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.
He said on Wednesday that he’ll decide within two weeks whether the US military will get directly involved in the war given the “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he believed the two-week window Trump has given would give enough time for more negotiation and urged Tehran to “take that off ramp.”
Just before meeting the European diplomats, Araghchi made a brief appearance before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He said that Israel’s “attacks on nuclear facilities are grave war crimes,” and insisted that “we are entitled … and determined to defend our territorial integrity, national sovereignty and security with all force.”
Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, though it was the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
The three European countries played an important role in the negotiations over the original 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
But they have repeatedly threatened to reinstate sanctions that were lifted under the deal if Iran does not improve its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
