Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed off urgent calls by world leaders to de-escalate.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he said regime change in Iran “could certainly be the result” of the conflict. He also claimed, without providing evidence, that Israeli intelligence indicated Iran intended to give nuclear weapons to the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen, The Associated Press said.
Iran has always said its nuclear program was peaceful, and the US and others have assessed that it has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003.
But Iran has enriched ever-larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have the capacity to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive nuclear talks, said Washington remained committed to the negotiations and hoped the Iranians would return to the table.
The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate the Palestinian Hamas group, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where war still rages after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
