‘STOP, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE’

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump says Iran will lose the war against Israel if they don’t come to the negotiation table.

Trump was speaking from the G7 summit in Canada, before making an early exit.

He said: “I’d say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately.”

This comes as Israel and Iran entered a fifth day of exchanging missile attacks, which has caused casualties on both sides, since Israel launched an offensive on Iran’s nuclear facilities last Friday. 

The longtime foes have fought a prolonged shadow war through proxies and covert operations, with Israel battling several Iran-backed groups in the region, including Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

This conflict, however, is the most intense confrontation in history, fuelling fears of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the Middle East.

And other world leaders have called for an immediate stop to the fighting before the violence escalates.

The Presidency of South Africa called for the United Nations to broker peace, calling Israel’s action unjustified in both Israel’s attack on Iran on Friday and their “disproportionate force against Gaza and Palestinians in general”. 

China urged Iran and Israel to “immediately” take steps to reduce tensions and “prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call yesterday that Ankara was ready to play a “facilitating role” to end the conflict.

Speaking later to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Erdogan said the “lawless attitude” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “poses a clear threat to the international system”.

In a major campaign launched early Friday, Israeli fighter jets and drones struck nuclear and military sites in Iran, also hitting residential areas and fuel depots. Iran’s health ministry says at least 224 people have been killed and more than 1 200 wounded.

Tehran has responded with barrages of missiles and drones that hit Israeli cities and towns, killing at least 24 people and wounding 592 others, according to the prime minister’s office.

Israel has also killed many top military commanders and atomic scientists in Iran as part of an offensive that officials say seeks to end nuclear and missile threats.

The Israeli military said that after a wave of strikes yesterday, its forces had destroyed one third of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers.