Iran and Israel launch more attacks as Trump weighs US involvement

Shabnam Shabani
BBC Persian, reporting from London

Mediation in such a volatile conflict requires both the motivation
and the leverage to succeed. It now appears that Tehran sees that potential in
Europe. A resolution could offer a rare win-win, for both Tehran and Brussels.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said just hours ago that
world leaders have been “impressed” by Israel’s “achievements”. Germany’s new
Chancellor, in a strikingly candid comment, went as far as to say Israel is
doing the “dirty work”.

Yet Europe is clearly uneasy. A war between Iran and Israel, so
soon after Brexit, the Covid pandemic, and the war in Ukraine, could prove
deeply destabilising for a continent already under strain. One of the immediate
fears: a sharp surge in energy prices that could deliver yet another blow to
fragile European economies.

Now, Reuters is reporting that the foreign ministers of Germany,
France, and the UK, are expected to meet their Iranian counterpart in Geneva on
Friday. The agenda: Iran’s nuclear programme, and, more pressingly, the
escalating conflict with Israel.

European officials may welcome any pause or rollback in Iran’s
nuclear activities. But the prospect of a full-blown war on the doorstep of
Nato allies and American partners is likely keeping many of Europe’s leaders
awake at night.