Iran has rejected western calls not to retaliate against Israel for the killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, 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 spokesperson, Nasser Kanani, said.
A report on Tuesday from the official IRNA news agency said President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a phone conversation late on Monday with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said that the west’s silence about “unprecedented inhumane crime” in Gaza, and Israeli attacks elsewhere in the Middle East, was “irresponsible” and encouraged Israel to put regional and global security at risk.
Iran and its allies have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s killing on 31 July during a visit to the Iranian capital for Pezeshkian’s swearing-in as president. Just hours earlier, an Israeli strike in Beirut had killed a senior commander of Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon. Israel has not officially commented on its alleged role in Haniyeh’s death.
Western diplomats have scrambled to prevent a major conflagration in the Middle East, where tensions are already high owing to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The White House warned that a “significant set of attacks” by Iran and its allies was possible as soon as this week, and has sent fighter jets, anti-missile warships and a guided missile submarine to the region in support of Israel.
Analysts say Iran is almost certain to respond to the Israeli strikes but will seek to avoid starting an all-out war.
In April, two weeks after two Iranian generals were killed in a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Syria, Iran launched hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards Israel, damaging two airbases. Almost all of the weapons were shot down before they reached their targets.
“Iran wants its response to be much more effective than the 13 April attack,” said Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East policy.
One option for Iran would be to rely on its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and in Gaza. However, except for Hezbollah, the various members of Tehran’s “axis of resistance” may lack the ability to inflict serious damage on Israel.
Hamas fired two rockets from Gaza at Israel’s commercial hub, Tel Aviv, on Tuesday for the first time in months but there were no reports of casualties. One fell in the sea and the other reached Israeli territory, the Israeli military said.
Asked on Tuesday if he thought Iran might forgo a retaliatory strike if a Gaza ceasefire was reached, Joe Biden said: “That’s my expectation.”
A new round of ceasefire talks is expected to begin on Thursday, though expectations of any deal are low, and Hamas officials have reportedly cast doubt on whether they would attend, or whether talks would go ahead.
Far-right parties in the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, ruling coalition strongly oppose any pause in hostilities in Gaza.
On Monday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ultranationalist national security minister, defied longstanding rules to lead hundreds of Israelis in singing Jewish hymns and performing religious rituals on the raised compound in Jerusalem’s Old City known as al-Haram al-Sharif , Muslims.
Under a longstanding but fragile arrangement, known as the status quo, Jews can visit the site but not pray there. The compound is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount.
The deliberately provocative act appeared aimed at disrupting forthcoming negotiations. In a video filmed inside the compound, Ben-Gvir restated his opposition to any pause in the Gaza war. “We must win and not go to the talks in Doha or Cairo,” the minister said.
Netanyahu’s office said Ben-Gvir’s visit “deviated from the status quo” and that Israel’s policy on the Temple Mount remained unchanged.
The mounting danger of a wider confrontation with Iran and its proxies comes amid a continuing Israeli assault on Gaza, where officials from the Hamas-run health ministry have said almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict broke out in October.
The war began after Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israeli communities which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Militants also seized 251 people, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, although the Israeli military says 39 are dead.
Pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza has grown since emergency services in the Hamas-run territory said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday killed 93 people at a school housing displaced Palestinians. Israel said it targeted militants operating out of the school and mosque.
