This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Iran on August 13 rejected Western calls to renounce its threat to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the EU- and U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Haniyeh was killed along with his personal bodyguard in Tehran on July 31 as he visited the Iranian capital for the swearing-in of President Masud Pezeshkian.
Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied carrying out the attack.
Iran, Hamas’s main backer, blames Israel for the killing of Haniyeh and has vowed revenge, raising fears of a wider war in the region.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement that “such a request lacks political logic, flies in the face of the principles and rules of international law, and constitutes public and practical support” for Israel.
Reuters quoted on August 13 three senior Iranian officials as saying that only a cease-fire deal in Gaza stemming from talks expected to take place in the coming days would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel.
Israel started an air and ground offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters surged across the border into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage. Israel’s action has killed more than 38,900 people in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials from Hamas.
According to one of the officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, Iran, along with allies such as Hizballah, would launch a direct attack if the Gaza talks, which are due to begin on August 15 in either Egypt or Qatar, fail or if it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations. A cease-fire in Gaza, on the other hand, would give Iran cover for a smaller “symbolic” response, one of Reuters’ sources said.
His statement came after the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy called on Iran on August 12 to “stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also held phone calls with Pezeshkian the same day.
Starmer asked Pezeshkian to refrain from attacking Israel and said that war was not in anyone’s interest, his office said. Starmer told Pezeshkian he was deeply concerned by the situation in the Middle East and called on all parties to de-escalate to avoid further regional confrontation.
“There was a serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration,” Starmer was quoted as saying, adding that he had underlined his commitment to an immediate cease-fire, the release of all hostages, and increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Following the call with Starmer, the Iranian president was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that war anywhere in the world was in no one’s interest but that states had the right to “punitive responses against an aggressor.”
Scholz also called on Pezeshkian to prevent further military escalation in the Middle East. “The spiral of violence in the Middle East must now be broken,” Scholz told Pezeshkian, according to a German government statement.
The United States on August 12 said it agreed with intelligence assessments that Iran and/or its proxies in the Middle East could “attack Israel as early as this week.” U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that President Joe Biden had spoken to leaders of key Western allies to discuss the situation.
Western diplomats have scrambled to avert a major conflagration in the Middle East, where tensions were already high due to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed more than 38,900 people in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials from Hamas.
Israel launched its action after Hamas fighters surged across the border into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage.
