Israel not seeking endless war with Iran, foreign minister says

Israel is not seeking an endless war with Iran and will coordinate with the United States on when to end the fighting, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday, declining to publicly state a timeline for when the conflict could end.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, now in its 11th day, has engulfed the Middle East, with Iranian strikes hitting neighbouring states, including the United Arab Emirates, and Israel fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as striking Iran.

"We will continue until the minute that we and our partners think that is appropriate to stop," Saar told journalists in Jerusalem alongside his German counterpart.

"We are not looking for an endless war," he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier in Berlin that there was growing concern in Europe over the war and there appeared to be no plan to bring it to an end.

"We want to remove, for the long-term, existential threats from Iran to Israel," Saar said in response to a Reuters question on what victory would look like to the government.

He described Iran's newly appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamanei - son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed by the Israeli military on the first day of the war - as an extremist.

Israel has said it aims to eliminate Iran's clerical rule by destroying its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their rulers.

Saar said there was an opportunity to create conditions for Iranians to "regain their freedom," while acknowledging that it may not happen during the war and could come afterward.

"We must not miss this opportunity with partial results."

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the first senior foreign official to publicly visit Israel since the war began, said he was confident Israel and Washington were open to a diplomatic solution that could lead to an end to the war.

But any such solution would need to include agreements with Iran on its nuclear and missile programs, as well as its support for regional militias, terms that Wadephul said Tehran had made clear that it was not currently prepared to accept.

-Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Philippa Fletcher/Reuters