NYT: E.U. Talks With Iran Yield No Breakthrough

A day of talks involving representatives of Iran and Europe on Friday in Geneva broke up with no signs of a breakthrough, as top diplomats mounted an effort to avert a dangerous escalation in the weeklong conflict between Israel and Iran even as the sides pummeled each other from the air.

Iran sent a barrage of missiles into Israel on Friday that struck in several cities, according to Israeli broadcasters and the country’s main emergency service. Earlier, Israel announced it had conducted overnight strikes on missile factories and a research center linked to Iran’s nuclear program.

Both sides traded fire even as diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union were meeting with an Iranian delegation in Switzerland to try to cool the conflict. Expectations for the meeting were restrained, given the ongoing strikes in Israel and Iran and the wide gaps between Iran and the United States in their now-suspended negotiations about limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

Before the talks began, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran was not interested in negotiating an end to the war until Israel stopped its attacks. The meeting ended hours later with statements that appeared to signal both optimism and urgency.

“We are keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran, and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States,” said Britain’s foreign secretary, David Lammy. “This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don’t see regional escalation of this conflict.”

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, spoke in similarly general terms, declaring it was important to pursue a dialogue with Iran because, he said, “we believe there is no definitive military solution to the Iranian nuclear problem.”

With President Trump setting a new deadline of two weeks before he decides whether to join Israel’s aerial campaign against military and nuclear sites in Iran, the European diplomats planned to deliver an urgent message to Mr. Araghchi that his government must make significant concessions in its nuclear program.

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Israel and Iran launch fresh attacks amid diplomatic push.

Israel and Iran traded intensive fire for the eighth consecutive day on Friday, with Iranian missiles striking Israeli cities and Israeli jets pounding targets across Iran, despite diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict.

A missile launched from Iran early Friday morning damaged several buildings in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, where a strike the day before had hit a major medical center that had been largely evacuated. About nine hours later, a missile from a volley of some 35 struck an abandoned building in downtown Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, causing extensive damage to surrounding buildings, including a mosque.

There were no direct fatalities from the strikes on Friday in Israel, though 23 people were wounded in Haifa, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service, and dozens more in strikes across the country. A woman died after she had a heart attack in a shelter in northern Israel while sirens warning of incoming missiles were blaring, the service said.

In the Iranian capital, Tehran, large crowds took to the streets for a prayer march in support of the Iranian regime, while a resident interviewed by The Times described thinning traffic and closed shops amid ongoing Israeli strikes.

Iranian government websites remained inaccessible from outside the country on Friday and had not been updated, making it impossible to confirm the number of casualties there. The communication blackout was part of a countrywide internet shutdown now in its fourth day.

The Israeli military said air force jets had struck military and nuclear sites in Tehran overnight. Iran’s state broadcaster reported early Friday morning that Israeli strikes had targeted an industrial complex in the Sefid-Rud area in the northern provinces along the Caspian Sea coast, and large blasts were also reported in the northern city of Rasht and north of Tehran.

Later on Friday, the Israeli military said it had struck missile storage and launch sites in the regions of Tabriz and Kermanshah, as well as surface-to-air missile batteries in southwestern Iran. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said on Thursday that he had ordered the military to increase attacks on Iranian government targets to “destabilize the regime.”

The exchanges continued even as Iran’s top diplomat was meeting on Friday in Geneva with European foreign ministers for talks aimed at reaching a diplomatic compromise. The talks broke up without any evident breakthrough.

The talks followed President Trump’s announcement Thursday that he would delay a decision on whether to join Israel’s attacks, saying he would make up his mind “within the next two weeks.”