A week into their war, Israel and Iran exchanged more strikes on Friday as new diplomatic efforts led by the Europeans took place in Geneva. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held several hours of talks with the European Union’s top diplomat and counterparts from the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Afterwards, Britain’s foreign secretary said they were “keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran,” however the European ministers gave few details and took no questions.
Earlier Friday, thousands of people protested in Iran’s capital over the ongoing Israeli strikes, with one hard-line demonstrator telling The Associated Press: “How can we compromise with an enemy that breaches deals?”
Israel’s military says 25 fighter jets carried out airstrikes Friday morning targeting “missile storage and launch infrastructure components” in western Iran. In the Israeli city of Haifa, at least 19 people were wounded by an Iranian missile barrage.
A week of Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 657 people and wounded 2,037 others, the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said Friday.
Here’s the latest:
Chinese evacuation flight arrives in Beijing
An evacuation flight carrying 330 Chinese citizens returning from Iran has arrived at Beijing airport, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday. The flight from Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, landed in Beijing on Friday evening, it said.
Li Chunlin, a deputy director general at China’s foreign ministry’s consular affairs department, told the broadcaster that some 2,000 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Iran.
Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng told state-run media outlet CGTN that about 400 Chinese citizens were also evacuated from Israel.
Arab foreign ministers hold an emergency meeting in Istanbul
Friday’s talks were held at Iraq’s request to discuss the regional repercussions of the Israel-Iran war, ahead of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting scheduled over the weekend.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told the gathering that “the great danger is not limited to Iran alone, but rather includes the entire region” and called for “taking practical steps to influence the positions of European countries and direct communication with the United States of America,” the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported.
Iraq’s top diplomat also warned that…