Iran rules out talks with US as Middle East turmoil escalates

Iran has signaled it will not negotiate with Washington following massive and unprovoked US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic, which started on Saturday morning.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that combat operations “continue at this time in full force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved.”

British PM Keir Starmer said that while the UK was “not involved in the initial strikes on Iran,” it has agreed to a US request to use British bases for “defensive” raids to destroy Iranian missiles “at source.”

The initial attacks killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the head of the Iranian Republican Guard, and several other top officials. Russia has strongly condemned the US “practice of political assassinations and the ‘hunting’ of leaders of sovereign states.”

Iran has responded with hundreds of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases across the Gulf region.

While sporadic missile strikes have hit Tel Aviv and US bases, hundreds of Iranian civilians have been killed, including more than a hundred schoolchildren in a single strike, which Iran blamed on Israel.

Shipping and air traffic across the Middle East have been plunged into chaos, with thousands of tourists stranded across airports.

Russia, China, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with several other nations, have condemned the US and Israeli attacks. The EU has criticized Tehran for its retaliatory strikes more than it has Israel and the US for its unprovoked aggression.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences over the killing of Khamenei, describing his death as a “cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.”