Friday’s talks between European ministers and Iran’s top diplomat, which aimed at de-escalating the fighting between the two adversaries, failed to produce a breakthrough.

Arab Gulf states are lobbying the U.S. to rein in the fighting. Their concerns have grown in recent days with the possibility that the U.S. could join the Israeli attacks and persistent talk of regime change,

However, the crown jewel of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, a sprawling uranium enrichment facility built deep under a mountain in Fordow remains out of reach of Israel’s conventional weapons. It can only be destroyed with American “bunker-buster” bombs carried by B-2 Stealth fighters.