Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel has the right to defend itself following Iran’s attack as allies mobilize to sanction Iran. According to Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, his country has “tried to tell the United States clearly” that Iran is “not looking for the expansion of tension in the region.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country reserved the right to protect itself after Iran’s unprecedented attack and that it alone would decide how to do so.
Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend in an attack that caused little damage after most of the projectiles were intercepted.
The Israeli military has vowed to respond, prompting a diplomatic flurry aimed at calming the Middle East.
Israel’s allies in Washington have pledged to ramp up sanctions against Iran, while British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock became the first Western envoys to visit Israel since the attack.
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Tehran has vowed to hit back if its arch-foe Israel responds to the Saturday attack, which itself was launched after a deadly strike on Iran’s Damascus consulate building.
Citing three unnamed Israeli sources, ABC News reported on Thursday that “Israel prepared for and then aborted retaliatory strikes against Iran on at least two nights this past week.”
Among the range of possible reactions considered by the Israeli war cabinet were options to attack Iranian proxies elsewhere in the region or to conduct a cyberattack, the sources told ABC.
Sanctions Pushed on Iran
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned after the attack of “a fierce and severe response” to any retaliation.
Israel’s top ally, the United States, has made it clear that it won’t join any attack on Iran, vowing instead to level more sanctions against the country’s missile program, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Iranian defense ministry.
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Nevertheless, on Wednesday, US Republicans unveiled a bill that would provide $26 billion in military aid to Israel, which appeared to have White House backing.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Brussels was also working to expand sanctions against Iran, including its supply of drones and other weapons to Russia and to proxy groups around the Middle East.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU and its allies had a “duty… to expand these sanctions,” while Baerbock said Berlin backed further sanctions.
Amir-Abdollahian in the USA
In this context, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, in a video posted by his ministry, that his country has “tried to tell the United States clearly” that Iran is “not looking for the expansion of tension in the region.”
According to Amir-Abdollahian, Iran communicated with Washington “before and after” launching its attack on Israel.
Iran informed the United States that the decision by the Islamic Republic of Iran to “respond to the (Israel) regime is final,” and the matter was concluded, he said.
Amir-Abdollahin is currently in New York to attend a UN Security Council meeting during which he will vote on an Algeria-drafted resolution for full United Nations membership for a Palestinian state, diplomatic sources said.
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During his trip, Amir-Abdollahian is set to meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his counterparts from other countries.
Hiba Aslan and Mohammed Abed, with AFP
