Israel and Iran pummeled each other with airstrikes for the eighth consecutive day today, even as European diplomats met with an Iranian delegation in an effort to cool the conflict. Those talks ended with no signs of a breakthrough.

Israeli officials hoped that President Trump would send American warplanes armed with the only munitions in the world that are deemed powerful enough to destroy Iran’s critical nuclear-enrichment facility deep underground. (Here’s how that would work.) But Trump said he would wait up to two weeks before deciding whether to make such an intervention.

Diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union hoped to negotiate an offramp with Iran. But Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran was not interested in negotiating an end to the war until Israel stopped its attacks.

Trump suggested that only direct talks between the U.S. and Iran would produce a way out of the war. “Europe,” he said, “is not going to be able to help.”

In related news: As he considers striking Iran, Trump’s relationship with his director of national intelligence has become strained.

An analysis: The conflict is testing Trump’s often successful strategy of embracing dueling positions with little to no political cost.