Israel says it is not seeking endless war with Iran

2026-03-10 17:44:42, Kosova & Bota CNA

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

The US-Israeli war against Iran, now in its 11th day, has gripped the Middle East, as Iranian attacks have hit neighboring countries, including the United Arab Emirates, while Israel is also fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"We will continue until the moment when we and our partners think it is appropriate to stop," Saar told reporters in Jerusalem alongside his German counterpart.

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

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier in Berlin that concern about the war is growing in Europe and that there appear to be no plans to end it.

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

He described Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamanei - the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the Israeli army 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 the Iranians to overthrow their rulers.

Saar said there is an opportunity to create conditions for Iranians to "regain their freedom," acknowledging that this may not happen during the war, but afterwards.

"We must not waste this opportunity with partial results," he added.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the first senior foreign official to publicly visit Israel since the start of the war, said he is convinced that Israel and Washington are open to a diplomatic solution that could lead to an end to the war.

But any such solution must include agreements with Iran on its nuclear and missile programs, as well as its support for regional militias, conditions that Wadephul said Tehran has made clear it is currently unwilling to accept.