Jerusalem, Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel is not seeking an open-ended conflict with Iran and will decide jointly with the United States when to halt the fighting. Saar declined to give a timeline.
Israel’s position on duration and objectives
Speaking to journalists in Jerusalem alongside his German counterpart, Saar said Israel would continue military operations until it and its partners deemed it appropriate to stop. “We are not looking for an endless war,” he said.
Saar said Israel’s goal was to remove, for the long term, what he described as existential threats from Iran to Israel. He described Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei as an extremist.
Israel has stated its aim as eliminating Iran’s clerical rule by destroying its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their government. Saar said Israel should not miss the opportunity with partial results, while acknowledging that a change of government in Tehran may not occur during the war itself.
Regional escalation and conflict developments
The war, now in its 11th day, has spread across the Middle East. Iranian strikes have hit neighbouring states including the United Arab Emirates, while Israel is simultaneously fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and conducting strikes on Iran.
German calls for diplomacy and European concerns
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the first senior foreign official to visit Israel publicly since the conflict began, said he was confident both Israel and Washington were open to a diplomatic solution.
Wadephul said any agreement would need to cover Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes as well as its backing for regional militias, adding that Tehran had so far indicated it was not prepared to accept those terms.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier in Berlin that concern was growing in Europe over the conflict and that no plan to end it appeared to be in place.
What developments would you watch for as indicators that Israel and the United States are moving toward halting the fighting?