JERUSALEM: Two Israeli civilians including a pregnant woman were wounded on Wednesday when shots were fired at their vehicle in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities.

An Israeli army statement said “a terrorist opened fire on an Israeli vehicle” near Bruchin, an Israeli settlement in the center of the Palestinian territory considered illegal under international law.

“Two Israeli civilians were wounded” in the attack and are being treated, the statement added.

The Beilinson hospital said a woman taken there was pregnant.

“Medical teams are currently fighting in the traumatology ward to save the life of the woman and that of her fetus,” a hospital spokesperson said.

Emergency services had earlier said the woman driver, who was aged about 30, was “in a critical state with gunshot wounds.”

A male passenger around the age of 40 was “in a grave state,” emergency services added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “deeply shocked by the horrific terrorist attack against a woman in advanced pregnancy and her husband.”

“This abhorrent incident precisely reflects the difference between us, who desire and bring life, and the reprehensible terrorists, whose goal is to kill us and destroy life,” he said in the statement released by his office.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the West Bank has seen an upsurge in violence.

Bruchin is an Israeli settlement built on West Bank land without the Israeli authorities’ approval which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.

TEHRAN: Iran will hold a fresh round of nuclear talks with European powers in Turkiye later this week, its Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

The talks with Britain, France and Germany would be held in Istanbul on Friday, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

French diplomatic sources gave the same information, but there was still no word from Berlin or London on the meeting which was originally slated for earlier this month but postponed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the talks would be held “at the level of deputy foreign ministers.”

The European nations — known as the E3 — were among the world powers that negotiated the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal along with China, Russia and the United States.

Donald Trump, in his first term as president, effectively torpedoed the accord in 2018 by unilaterally withdrawing the US.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran, backing nuclear diplomacy but warning of military action if it fails.

Iran has held several discreet meetings on the nuclear agenda with the E3 since late last year — most recently in February in Geneva — ahead of indirect negotiations with Washington that began on April 12.

“While we continue the dialogue with the United States, we are also ready to talk with the Europeans,” Araghchi said.

“Unfortunately, the Europeans themselves have become somewhat isolated in these negotiations with their own policies,” he added, without elaborating.

“We do not want such a situation and that’s why we have continued our negotiations” with them, he said.

Friday’s meeting will follow the latest round of Oman-mediated Iran-US talks on Sunday, which Tehran described as “difficult but useful” while a US official said Washington was “encouraged.”

Iran and the United States have so far held four rounds of talks, the highest-level contact in years between the long-time foes, since the US abandoned the 2015 nuclear accord.

Western countries, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire atomic weapons, while Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

European governments are currently weighing whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 deal, which would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance — an option that expires in October.

On Tuesday, Trump criticized Iran’s leadership, regional role, alleged mismanagement, and threatened to slash its oil exports if nuclear talks fail.

“Iran’s leaders have focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad,” said Trump at a Saudi investment forum.

He reiterated his willingness to “make a deal with Iran” but threatened to impose “massive maximum pressure,” including driving Iranian oil exports to zero if talks failed.

Araghchi dismissed the remarks as a “very deceptive view” of Iran and blamed US sanctions, pressure and both military and non-military threats for hindering the country’s progress.