Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he’d suggested Rome as a possible venue for U.S.-Iran talks, and called on all sides to “look to the future, not to the past.”

“There is no lasting solution to this problem through military means,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said. “Only negotiation will make it possible to permanently restrict the Iranian nuclear program and to provide a lasting response to this question, to this issue, which is existential for Israel, for the region, and for Europe.”

When asked about Europe’s role in the conflict, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said “the Europeans have a strong position.” Iran is only willing to negotiate with Europe, he said, noting that this is “good sign for us” — but stressed the need for U.S. involvement in talks.

“Europeans told Iran on Friday that it had to be ready to negotiate directly with the U.S. Unfortunately, that was not successful and perhaps what we have seen is a consequence of that,” Wadephul said.

“The negotiating table is the only place to end this crisis,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X on Sunday.

As they gathered on Monday, ministers were largely diplomatic and refused to be drawn on whether they saw U.S. involvement as conducive to restarting negotiations.

World capitals reacted to the surprise US attack on Iranian nuclear sites with a mix of calls for restraint and statements of condemnation.

Trump had indicated on Friday he would make a decision in the next two weeks as to whether the US would bomb Iran in support of Israel, but the suddenness of the weekend strikes suggested that deadline was a red herring, with The Atlantic reporting that the president had already made up his mind last week.

As the impact of the strikes was still being assessed Sunday, European and Gulf leaders appeared united in calls for diplomacy and restraint, while Iran’s longtime allies, China and Russia, criticized the aerial assault as a gross escalation that could lead to further war.

The EU reiterated its call for a diplomatic solution to the war between Israel and Iran, after the US bombed three key Iranian nuclear sites.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on X on Sunday morning.

“Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, as it would be a threat to international security,” she added.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X: “Now is the moment for Iran to engage in a credible diplomatic solution. The negotiating table is the only place to end this crisis.” She also pointed out that “respect for international law is critical.”

António Costa, who chairs the European Council, put out a statement, saying: “Too many civilians will once again be the victims of a further escalation. The EU will continue engaging with the parties and our partners to find a peaceful solution at the negotiating table.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz convened his security cabinet on Sunday morning. German Government Spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a statement: “Friedrich Merz reiterated his call for Iran to immediately begin negotiations with the US and Israel and to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.”

The German government said it “believes that large parts of Iran’s nuclear program were compromised by the airstrikes.”

National leaders react

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Sunday afternoon that he had held another call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Macron called for de-escalation, and asked Iran to demonstrate the “greatest restraint” to allow for a return to a negotiated solution.

He asked Iran for a “clear commitment” to renounce nuclear weapons. “It’s only this path that leads towards peace and the security of everyone,” Macron wrote.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: “Italy will continue its efforts to bring the parties to the negotiating table.”

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote that the Middle East is on the verge of the abyss and called for dialogue and diplomacy to take precedence. “Iran must never have access to a nuclear weapon, but the stability of the region will only be achieved around a negotiating table, in full respect of international law,” Sánchez wrote.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala issued one of the most positive statements about America’s decision to get involved in the conflict. The right-wing politician described Trump’s decision to enter the war as an “understandable effort to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

“The US military action, which has supported Israel’s efforts, will hopefully finally bring the Iranian regime to a negotiating position that would lead to a calming of the situation in the Middle East,” Fiala said on X.

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, “warned that the Iran-Israel war will affect Europe, with protests and heightened terror threats expected,” according to his international spokesperson.

EU foreign ministers will gather in Brussels on Monday morning to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East. Kallas held talks last week with Iran’s foreign minister, and her British, French and German counterparts, in Geneva.

Meanwhile, France, Germany and the UK told Iran “to engage in negotiations leading to an agreement that addresses all concerns associated with its nuclear program” in a joint statement sent Sunday.

The three European countries urged Tehran to avoid any action “that could destabilise the region,” and stated their support for the security of Israel, while promising to keep up diplomatic efforts to “defuse tensions”.

Early on Sunday, the United Nations’ Secretary General António Guterres said that the US attack on Iran is a “dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security.”

He warned that the conflict could “rapidly get out of control” and result in “catastrophic consequences.”

“There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace,” said Guterres, who asked all countries to de-escalate and “uphold their obligations under the UN Charter and other rules of international law.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Tehran’s nuclear program is “a grave threat to international security” and that the country cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

“The US has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said. He urged Iran to “return to the negotiating table” to reach a “diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”

The US stepped into the conflict between Israel and Iran by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday. Donald Trump said America’s goal was to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and that the strikes were a “spectacular” success.

(ew)

CNN —

US President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities puts the Middle East in a volatile position, with all eyes now on Tehran’s next move.

Speaking in Istanbul, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday his country has “a variety of options” when deciding how to respond to the US attacks.

From striking US bases in the region, to possibly closing a key waterway to global shipping, Iran is likely mulling its next moves. All carry inherent risks for the Islamic Republic, Israel and the United States.

Here’s what to know:

Iran could hit US military interests in the region

Direct US involvement in the conflict could see Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) activate what remains of its proxies across Iraq, Yemen and Syria, groups which have previously launched attacks on American assets in the region.

While Iran’s strongest ally in the region was once Lebanon’s Hezbollah, that group has been significantly weakened by Israeli attacks.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) says the US maintains a presence at 19 sites in total across the region, with eight of those considered by analysts to have a permanent US presence. As of June 13, the CFR estimated some 40,000 US troops were in the Middle East.

In Iraq, for example, there were 2,500 US troops as of late last year. An Iranian attack on these forces is not inconceivable. In 2020, an Iranian missile attack on a US garrison left more than 100 soldiers with traumatic brain injuries.

The Iranians have said “several times” that if the US “joins this war and attacks their nuclear facilities, they will retaliate against US forces in the region, against US interests, and there are a lot of those,” CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid said.

A resurgence of attacks from Yemen against US assets is already on the table. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels previously vowed to attack American ships in the Red Sea should the US join Israel’s conflict with Iran. A prominent Houthi official said in a social media post early Sunday that “Trump must bear the consequences” of the US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

It is unclear if this marks the end of a US-Houthi ceasefire struck in May, in which Washington said it would halt its military campaign against the Houthis in exchange for the group stopping its attacks on US interests in the region.

Knowing that it can’t outright win a conflict against Israel and the US, experts have said that Tehran could seek to engage in a war of attrition, where it tries to exhaust its adversary’s will or capacity to fight in a drawn-out and damaging conflict, which Trump at the outset of his presidency said he wanted to avoid.

Iran could disrupt global oil trade

Iran also has the power to influence the “entire commercial shipping in the Gulf,” Ravid said, should it decide to close the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route.

There have so far been no material disruptions to the global flow of oil. But if oil exports are disrupted, or if Iran tries to block the Strait of Hormuz, the global oil market could face an existential crisis.

The strait links the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is a key channel for oil and liquefied natural gas exports from the Middle East to the global market. About 20 million barrels of oil flow through the strait each day, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

A prominent adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has already called for missile strikes and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Following America’s attack on the Fordow nuclear installation, it is now our turn,” warned Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of the hardline Kayhan newspaper, a well-known conservative voice who has previously identified himself as a Khamenei “representative.”

The Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee on Sunday proposed to the legislature that the Strait of Hormuz should be closed in response to the US attack, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

“The final decision lies with the Supreme National Security Council,” state-run Press TV cited committee member Esmaeil Kowsari as saying. Debate on its potential closure is ongoing in parliament, Ali Keshvari, a lawmaker, was cited as saying by Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Monday.

Geographic leverage over global shipping gives Iran the “capacity to cause a shock in oil markets, drive up oil prices, drive inflation, collapse Trump’s economic agenda,” Mohammad Ali Shabani, an Iran expert and editor of the Amwaj news outlet, told CNN.

Iran could race to build a bomb

Some experts say that Iran is very likely to race for a nuclear bomb now, even if the current regime collapses and new leaders come in place.

“Trump just guaranteed that Iran will be a nuclear weapons state in the next 5 to 10 years,” Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, said on X. “Particularly if the regime changes.”

Parsi has said that even if the regime collapses and new military elements assume power, they are likely to be much more hawkish than the current regime and race toward a nuclear weapon as their only deterrent.

Experts have previously said that Iran likely moved its stocks of enriched uranium from its key nuclear facilities amid Israeli strikes.. Nuclear power plants that generate electricity for civil purposes use uranium that is enriched to between 3.5% and 5%. When enriched to higher levels, uranium can be used to make a bomb Israel and the US accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons; Tehran insists its program is peaceful.

Iran is also likely to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or the NPT, under which it has pledged not to develop a bomb.

“Iran’s response is likely not just limited to military retaliation. NPT withdrawal is quite likely,” Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, said on X.

Iran could just keep hitting Israel for now

Iran’s first response to the US’ attack on its nuclear sites was to attack Israel, not US bases.

Iranian missiles hit a group of buildings in Tel Aviv, where 86 people were admitted to hospital with injuries overnight and on Sunday morning, according to Israel’s ministry of health.

Knowing it may not be able to sustain a full-on confrontation with the US, and hoping that Trump will scale back on his involvement following Sunday’s strike, Iran may merely seek to perpetuate the status quo, fighting only Israel.

Trump may follow the same playbook as in the 2020 attack that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Shabani told CNN’s Becky Anderson.

Trump at the time wanted to “send a big message, get the headlines, show US resolve, but then avoid a wider war,” Shabani said.

While Iran may feel it has to retaliate to save face, it may be a bloodless response, similar to what happened in 2020, when it launched a barrage of missiles at US bases in Iraq, which resulted in traumatic brain injuries to personnel but no deaths.

Iran could resort to cyberattacks or terrorism

Two military analysts have said Iran could resort to “asymmetric” measures – such as terrorism or cyberattacks – to retaliate against the US because Israeli attacks have reduced Iran’s military capabilities.

“I think the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) is probably trying to figure out what capabilities it has left” as its missile stockpile dwindles, said CNN national security analyst David Sanger.

“I think (the IRGC is) going to be a little bit careful, and I suspect that’s going to take us to all of the asymmetric things they can do: cyber, terrorism. I think that they’re probably going to be looking for things where the US cannot just put up the traditional defenses,” he added.

Similarly, retired Maj. Gen. James “Spider” Marks, head of geopolitical strategy at Academy Securities, an investment bank, told CNN that Israel “did a pretty good job of damaging Iran’s capacity to launch its rather robust missile inventory.”

But, “albeit wounded,” the IRGC still has “some tremendous capacity,” he said. “It has capabilities that are already within the region and then outside the region. We are vulnerable… around the world, where the IRGC has either influence or can make things happen asymmetrically.”

Iran could resume nuclear talks

Iran has refused to return to the negotiating table while under Israeli attacks.

On Sunday, Araghchi said he does not know how “much room is left for diplomacy” after the US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“They crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities. … We have to respond based on our legitimate right for self-defense,” Araghchi said.

Parsi said that by doing so, “the Iranians have cornered themselves.”

“Their aim is to force Trump to stop Netanyahu’s war, and by that show his ability and willingness to use American leverage against Netanyahu,” Parsi wrote. “But the flip side is that Tehran has given Israel a veto on US-Iran diplomacy – by simply continuing the war, Israel is enabled to block talks between the US and Iran.”

Iranian and European officials met Friday in Geneva for talks, which an Iranian source said started out tense but became “much more positive.”

Speaking Sunday, Araghchi said the US had decided to “blow up” diplomacy.

“Last week, we were in negotiations with the US when Israel decided to blow up that diplomacy. This week, we held talks with the E3 (group of European ministers)/EU when the US decided to blow up that diplomacy,” Araghchi said on X.

Vaez, of the International Crisis Group, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the “Iranians were reluctant to negotiate with a gun to their head, and that gun has already been triggered.

“The more likely situation is that the talks are over for now.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said late Saturday that the bombing of the major nuclear sites was a “very successful attack” and threatened additional assaults if Tehran does not make peace. The targeted Fordo enrichment plant was described by Trump as “completely and totally obliterated.”

Trump also said that “any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed” Saturday night.

The American aistrikes were welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who lauded Trump’s “bold decision” as a move that “will change history.”

But European leaders urged calm as Mideast anxieties escalated.

“With tensions in the Middle East at a new peak, stability must be the priority,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X. “Respect for international law is critical.” She called for Iran “to engage in a credible diplomatic solution.”

European Council President António Costa also urged diplomacy. “I call on all parties to show restraint and respect for international law and nuclear safety. Diplomacy remains the only way to bring peace and security to the Middle East region,” he said on X.