A ‘terrible spiral of escalation’: World braces for intensifying Iran-Israel conflict

Urgent international calls for restraint appear to be falling on deaf ears as the world braces for intensifying conflict in the Middle East.

All eyes are on the White House, as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs carrying out direct military strikes on Iran. Such an act would represent a dramatic deepening of U.S. involvement in what has thus far been limited to attacks between Iran and U.S. ally Israel.

The Kremlin warned Thursday that U.S. intervention in Iran would set off a “terrible spiral of escalation,” while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Reuters that the world is “millimeters” away from nuclear catastrophe. Russia is currently mired in its own war in Ukraine, which also involves a fight over a major nuclear power plant.

In the U.K., Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired an emergency Cobra meeting — the country’s national crisis management system — as his government works to withdraw the families of staff at the British embassy in Tel Aviv.

The high-level intelligence meeting followed Starmer’s presence at the G7 summit in Canada, during which he joined other leaders of the group in reiterating their “commitment to peace and stability.”

But chances at diplomacy are looking increasingly bleak as Iran and Israel continue to trade increasingly deadly blows and leaders of the countries involved show no sign of stepping back from the brink.

Trump remained noncommittal in his comments on whether the U.S. would attack Iran.

“I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate,” he told reporters on the White House lawn on Wednesday.

He added that “the next week is going to be big.”

The president said later from the Oval Office that he likes to “make the final decision one second before it’s due… because things change. Especially with war.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stirred some controversy, saying in an interview Tuesday that Israel was doing the “dirty work” for other countries by carrying out strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

“I can only say I have the greatest respect for the fact that the Israeli army and the Israeli government had the courage to do this,” Merz told a German broadcaster. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the U.K. are set to meet with their Iranian counterpart on Friday.

Meanwhile, China’s Xinhua state media service cited Chinese Premier Xi Jinping saying that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is “an urgent priority” and that the use of force is not the right way to resolve the conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi held a phone call Thursday, during which both men strongly condemned Israel, saying the country’s actions in Iran “violated the UN Charter and other norms of international law,” according to a Kremlin aide.

The leaders, both of whom are allies of Iran, said that military action would not resolve the issues Western and Israeli leaders have over Iran’s nuclear program and that diplomacy was the only way forward.

It comes after Trump posted comments on his Truth Social platform earlier this week, demanding that Iran unconditionally surrender and warning that the U.S. has the capability to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei responded by saying that any American attack on Iran would be met with “irreparable damage” and spark a wider war.

Overnight, Israel and Iran traded missile barrages, with Israel striking Iran’s Arak and Natanz nuclear facilities, while Iran said it hit a hospital in Israel’s Negev region after aiming for a military site.

At least 30 people were injured in the strike on the hospital, authorities said, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz saying after the attack that Iran’s leader “can no longer be allowed to exist.”