The Blubber

At the G7 summit in Canada, European leaders are working to bring Iran back to the negotiating table, using Gulf states as go-betweens.

However, Iran is insisting on a joint ceasefire with Israel as a condition, a demand that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently rejecting. U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to make a clear move, though Washington is viewed by Tehran as pivotal in influencing Israeli behavior.

Trump, for his part, is seeking signs that Iran is willing to scale back its insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment rights. He has indicated he is prepared to use Israel’s ongoing military campaign as leverage if needed.

When asked whether Iran had sent any signals about wanting to reduce tensions, Trump suggested they had. “They want to talk,” he said.

The U.S. president warned that Iran was not prevailing in its conflict with Israel and should re-enter negotiations before time runs out. “They have to make a deal, and it’s painful for both parties, but I’d say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it’s too late,” Trump said. “If Iran wants to negotiate, now is the time.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on Trump to distance himself from Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli prime minister of deliberately derailing peace efforts between the U.S. and Iran.

“By all indications, the purpose of Netanyahu’s criminal attack on Iran – killing hundreds of innocent civilians, including women and children – is to scuttle a deal between Iran and the US, which we were on the right path to achieve,” Araghchi said. “He is playing yet another American president, and ever more American taxpayers, for absolute fools.

“If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential. Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.”

The UAE, which initially conveyed Trump’s first proposal to Iran, has acted as one of several intermediaries, alongside Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi — a key broker in previous U.S.-Iran negotiations — has been encouraging Tehran to return to talks, citing the overwhelming military odds stacked against it.

According to Iranian media, President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Sultan of Oman that, “if the United States does not restrain Israel, Iran will be forced to continue its response in a more severe and painful manner.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have also been in communication with UAE officials. Starmer said there was growing consensus around the need to de-escalate.

“It is really important that we focus on de-escalation, because the risks of the conflict escalating are obvious across the region and beyond the region, the impact that this could and probably will have on Gaza, which is a tinderbox, and, of course, the impact on the economy,” Starmer said. “That is why the G7 has such a focus on de-escalation. That will be an intense discussion for our talks today… this will be a central issue.”

G7 leaders are delivering a direct message to Tehran—either through Gulf intermediaries or in private conversations—that Iran must offer concessions at the negotiating table. Otherwise, Israel may press its military advantage to the point of dismantling the post-1979 Iranian regime.

With much of its military and intelligence leadership eliminated by Israeli strikes, Iran's command structure is in disarray. Even parts of the Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran have reportedly been targeted in bombings.