The White House says, due to “chance of negotiation”, President Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the US will join the Israel-Iran conflict.

    Iran’s foreign minister is scheduled to meet today in Geneva with counterparts from France, Germany and the United Kingdom for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and ending Israel’s attacks.

    More than 200 injured in Israel, including four in critical condition, following an Iranian missile attack on Thursday.

    Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem said the threatened assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is an “aggression” against all the people of the region.

    Trump ‘cornered himself’ by following Israel’s agenda

    Shahram Akbarzadeh, director of the Middle East Studies Forum at Deakin University in Australia, says Trump has been allowing Israel to dictate US policy towards Iran and the wider region.

    “Trump came to office with the promise of extracting the United States from wars in the Middle East, but effectively he has left the decision-making in the Middle East, the policy towards the Middle East, to Israel,” Akbarzadeh told Al Jazeera.

    “Trump is simply following Israel’s agenda in relation to Palestine, in relation to Iran – [and] this has put the United States basically hostage to Israeli decision-making.”

    Akbarzadeh added, however, that if the European leaders set to meet with Iran’s foreign minister later today come up with a diplomatic solution, “then Trump would favour that”.

    “But in the absence of any prospect of a diplomatic solution, I think Trump has very much cornered himself in this situation.”

    Israeli media confirms ‘direct hit’ in southern Beersheba

    Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth news outlet reports that the Beersheba Municipality has confirmed that the Iranian missile attack a short while ago was a “direct hit and not fragments” from a intercepted missile crashing to the ground.

    The Channel 12 news site also said the Israeli military has confirmed that the Iranian missile was not intercepted by air defences.

    Several people were injured in the attack, the news outlets said.

    What is China’s view on the Israel-Iran conflict?

    Alam Saleh, a senior lecturer in Iranian Studies at the Australian National University, said China takes a business-first approach to foreign policy, which means it will always favour peace and stability in the Middle East.

    “Beijing seeks peace and stability. This is what is essential for economy and trade and investment. They are not interventionists like the Western powers,” Saleh told Al Jazeera in an interview from Tehran.

    China imports over half of its crude oil from the Middle East, and it gets a steep discount from Iran. Saleh said keeping the pipelines open is a must for Beijing.

    “War and security instability not only undermine Chinese investment and trade and business … but also the oil price and gas energy security in general,” he said.

    “Therefore, China seeks stability, and it disagrees and opposes any kind of military solution for any type of conflict and confrontations, no matter with whom,” he added.

    Unclear where exactly Iranian strike hit in southern Israel

    As we’ve been reporting, video footage from southern Israel shows large plumes of smoke, cars ablaze, and emergency crews trying to put out the flames on what appears to be a main road in southern Israel.

    “It isn’t clear yet, because we haven’t seen any statement yet … of what exactly was targeted,” Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said.

    “The Israeli Home Front Command has said it is now permitted to leave protected areas,” she reported. “But they did not specify where that missile or missiles have fallen.”

    Odeh also noted that southern Israel is less densely populated than the central areas of the country that have been hit by Iranian missiles in recent days.