Iran has rejected calls from the UK and other Western countries to refrain from retaliating against Israel over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.
As part of international diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to “stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack” in a rare phone conversation on Monday.
But Pezeshkian said the crackdown was a “way to stop crime” and “Iran’s legal right,” according to Iranian state media.
Meanwhile, Israel, which did not admit it was responsible for Haniyeh’s murder, has put its military on the highest alert level.
The United States has warned that it is getting set for “a significant set of attacks” from Iran or its proxies since the beginning of this week and has increased its military presence in the Middle East to help defend Israel.
Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement, backed by Iran, is also threatening revenge for Israel’s killing of one of its top commanders in an airstrike in Beirut.
On Monday night, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement urging Iran and its allies not to proceed with any attack that could further exacerbate regional tensions.
“They will bear responsibility for actions that jeopardize this opportunity for peace and stability,” said Sir Keir, President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Later, the UK Prime Minister also expressed his deep concern directly to the Iranian president by phone – the first of such conversation since March 2021.
Sir Kier told Pezeshkian there was a “there was a serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration”, Downing Street said.
“He called on Iran to refrain from attacking Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests,” it added.
On Tuesday morning, Iran’s official news agency, IRNA reported that Pezeshkian told Sir Kier that the support of Western countries for Israel had encouraged it to “continue atrocities” and threatened peace and security.
“Pezeshkian stated that from the point of view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, war in any part of the world is not in the interest of any country, emphasizing that a punitive response to an aggressor is a legal right of states and a way to stop crime and aggression,” Irna stated further.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has separately rejected calls for moderation from London, Paris and Berlin.
“Such demands are void of political logic, in complete contradiction to the principles and rules of international law, and excessive,” said spokesman Nasser Kaanani.
The Israeli military responded on Monday saying it took Iran’s statements seriously.
“We are prepared at peak readiness in offense and defense, and we will act according to the directives of the government,” spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a briefing.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Israeli government warned Iran and its allies that Israel would “exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena”.
The United States believes that a new cease-fire agreement in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages would be the best way to ease tensions in the region and called for negotiations to resume on Thursday.
Israel said it would send a team of negotiators to conclude a deal, while Hamas indicated it agreed in principle to participate in negotiations despite the killing of its leader.
Hamas said on Sunday that negotiations should resume from where it stopped a month and a half ago, rather than new rounds of negotiations.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
Over 39,920 people have so far been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Hundreds of people have also been killed in the almost daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military across the Israel-Lebanon border since the day after the conflict began.
Source: BBC News
