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(TJV NEWS) As reported by Reuters, Iran has reached out to key Gulf nations—including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman—to urge them to lobby U.S. President Donald Trump to influence Israel into agreeing to an immediate ceasefire, according to two Iranian officials and three regional sources familiar with the diplomatic outreach.
In return, Tehran has indicated its willingness to show “flexibility” in ongoing nuclear negotiations with Washington, one of the Iranian sources told Reuters. This overture is seen as a strategic move aimed at de-escalating what has become the most direct and intense confrontation in history between Iran and Israel.
Gulf leaders, including top diplomats from the aforementioned nations, reportedly engaged in a flurry of high-level calls over the weekend, contacting their counterparts in Tehran, Washington, and other global capitals. Their goal: prevent further escalation of a volatile conflict that many in the region fear could spiral into a broader war. A Gulf official close to the matter confirmed to Reuters that these countries had all appealed to the United States to pressure Israel to halt its military operations and resume dialogue over Iran’s nuclear program.
“The Gulf States are deeply concerned the conflict will spin out of control,” one regional source emphasized.
At the time of reporting, both the White House and the U.S. State Department declined to comment on the diplomatic maneuvering, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, a separate but related diplomatic effort is also unfolding among leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations. A draft joint statement—reviewed by Reuters and confirmed by two sources—calls for de-escalation between Israel and Iran. The draft also reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and emphasizes the importance of maintaining global market stability, particularly in energy markets.
However, the statement has not yet been signed off by President Trump, who maintains an unpredictable stance on Middle East policy. According to Reuters, the White House again declined to comment on the draft when approached.
The backdrop to this flurry of diplomacy is a dramatically intensifying military campaign by Israel. On Monday, Israel’s armed forces issued a stark warning to civilians living in northern Tehran, advising them to evacuate immediately in anticipation of imminent airstrikes. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Israeli military said, in Persian, that it would be conducting operations in Tehran’s District 3, specifically targeting infrastructure tied to Iran’s military command.
“In the coming hours, the Israeli military will operate in the area, as it has in recent days throughout Tehran, to strike military infrastructure of the Iranian regime,” the post stated. An annotated map accompanied the message, identifying the targeted zone and urging citizens to leave for their safety.
This direct threat to the Iranian capital marks a stunning escalation in the conflict, and represents an unprecedented move in modern Israeli military strategy. While Israeli forces have previously carried out covert operations and strikes on Iranian-linked assets in Syria and elsewhere, the targeting of central Tehran signals the seriousness of the current standoff.
As Reuters emphasized, the dual-pronged approach—military pressure by Israel and diplomatic entreaties via Gulf intermediaries—has left the region on edge, with both war and peace hanging in the balance.
As of now, no ceasefire agreement has been publicly confirmed, and the situation remains fluid. All eyes are now on Washington to see whether President Trump will heed the Gulf nations’ call and exert pressure on Tel Aviv—or continue to support Israel’s aggressive posture without conditions.
We shall see the extent to which Trump betrays Israel. Any attempt to impose a “cease-fire” by Israel’s enemies within and without Trump’s heavily anti-Israel government is in the hands of a “loose-cannon” president. The primary concern remains destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons program, so that it cannot readily reconstruct and deliver nuclear weapons on Israel. Also, Israel is under a massive ballistic missile war by Iran. It is striking the weakest non-patriotic part of Israeli society in Tel Aviv, and hoping that liberal Democrat American “Jews” and the Democrat party will likewise continue to betray Israel. Israel’s enemies, including the anti-Israel “mainstream” media, like Reuters are spreading as much propaganda and misinformation as possible.
Israel needs to finish them off. If Israel is fighting for its very existence like the PM said, nothing should be off the table – nothing. If that means Iran is burnt to the ground with 90 million dead – so be it. That’s what the allies said to Germany during World War 2: Surrender and behave or the allies will burn the country to the ground and kill every German in Germany if necessary. Israel must adopt the allies’ policy. Nothing less will do.
Netanyahu’s plan is brilliant and well thought out. Even Gallant, Netanyahu’s critic, is on board. And so is Lapid, another critic. What must be recognized is that there are about five stages to making a bomb, and that Iran has cleverly and strategically decentralized a good portion of this process. For example, the precursors to fission, known as the “nuclear gun” are being done in small, dispersed facilities that are non identifiable, thereby making it hard to
take them out. So, to get around this, Netanyahu is taking down scientists, infrastructure, etc. so that there will not be a system in place for making a nuclear bomb. This takes time and is NOT amenable to ceasing at this point. Israel must remain resolute. And from what we see, the Israeli politicians, both friend and foe, are behind Netanyahu. It will be a few more weeks of angst having to run to shelters and safe rooms, but the results will be incalculably worth it. We must lobby our representatives to support Israel without conditions or compromises.
Amy Neustein, Ph.D.
sociologist and author