In response to Israel’s execution of Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month, Iran on Tuesday rejected pleas from the West to withdraw its threat of retaliation.
The Islamic republic and its allies have accused Israel of being responsible for Haniyeh’s death on July 31, which happened while he was in Tehran for President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration. Israel has not offered a statement.
Hours after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior commander of Hezbollah, the potent militant organization in Lebanon that Iran supports, Iran has threatened to exact revenge.
In the Middle East, where tensions were already high because of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, Western diplomats have hurried to prevent a massive conflict.
In a statement on Monday, the United States and its European allies urged Iran to de-escalate.
“We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place,” said the joint statement from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
According to the White House, Israel also believed that Iran and its allies may launch a “significant set of attacks” as early as this week.
In support of Israel, the US has sent a guided missile submarine and an aircraft carrier strike group to the area.
Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, criticized the Western demand that it defuse.
“The declaration by France, Germany and Britain, which raised no objection to the international crimes of the Zionist regime, brazenly asks Iran to take no deterrent action against a regime which has violated its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said in a statement.
“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.
