- Iran rejects Western appeals, calling them illogical
- Heightened tensions following Hamas leader’s assassination
- Israel-Gaza conflict escalates amid ceasefire opposition
Iran has rebuffed Western appeals not to retaliate against Israel for the execution of Hamas leadership leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month.
Such demands lack political logic, are entirely contrary to the principles and rules of international law, and represent an excessive request,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Nasser Kanani, stated.
According to the official IRNA news agency, President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a late Monday phone conversation with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the West’s silence on “unprecedented inhumane crime” in Gaza and Israeli attacks elsewhere in the Middle East was “irresponsible” and encouraged Israel to jeopardise regional and global security.
Iran and its supporters have accused Israel of Haniyeh’s death on July 31, during a visit to Tehran for President Pezeshkian’s inauguration. Just hours before, an Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior commander of Hezbollah, the formidable Iranian-backed armed group in Lebanon. Israel has not officially commented on its alleged involvement in Haniyeh’s death.
Western diplomats have hurried to avoid a catastrophic conflagration in the Middle East, where emotions are already high due to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The White House warned that Iran and its allies could launch a “significant set of attacks” as early as this week, and it has dispatched fighter jets, anti-missile destroyers, and a guided missile submarine to the region to help Israel.
According to analysts, Iran would almost certainly reply to the Israeli strikes but will try to avoid escalating the conflict.
In April, two weeks after two Iranian generals were killed in a raid on Tehran’s embassy in Syria, Iran fired hundreds of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles against Israel, hitting two airbases. Almost all of the weapons were shot down before reaching their intended targets.
“Iran wants its response to be much more effective than the April 13 attack,” stated Farzin Nadimi, a senior scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Iran might rely on its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza. Except for Hezbollah, the various components of Tehran’s “axis of resistance” may lack the capability to cause significant harm to Israel.
On Tuesday, Hamas launched two rockets from Gaza into Israel’s commercial capital, Tel Aviv, for the first time in months, but there were no deaths reported. According to the Israeli military, one fell into the sea, and the other entered Israeli land.
A new round of ceasefire discussions is slated to begin on Thursday, although chances of an agreement are slim.
Far-right groups in Israel’s current coalition, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are adamantly opposed to any pause in hostilities in Gaza.
On Monday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ultranationalist national security minister, broke longstanding restrictions by leading hundreds of Israelis in singing Jewish melodies and performing religious rituals on the raised site in Jerusalem’s Old City known as al-Haram al-Sharif by Muslims.
The status quo, a long-standing but precarious arrangement, allows Jews to visit the site but not pray there. The compound is Islam’s third holiest location, and Jews refer to it as the Temple Mount.
The purposefully provocative act was intended to disrupt upcoming negotiations. In a video shot within the compound, Ben-Gvir reiterated his opposition to any ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. “We must win and not attend the talks in Doha or Cairo,” the minister declared.
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Netanyahu’s office stated that Ben-Gvir’s visit “deviated from the status quo” and that Israel’s position towards the Temple Mount remained unaltered.
The growing threat of a more significant clash with Iran and its proxies comes as Israel continues its assault on Gaza, where officials from the Hamas-run health ministry say nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began in October.
The battle began after Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israeli villages, killing 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians. Militants also kidnapped 251 people, 111 of whom are still imprisoned in Gaza, though the Israeli military claims 39 are dead.
Pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza has increased since emergency services in the Hamas-run territory reported that an Israeli attack on Saturday killed 93 people at a school for displaced Palestinians. Israel claimed it targeted militants operating out of the school and mosque.
