Israel in fear
Efforts underway to prevent Iran’s retaliation
Iran’s retaliation for a recent Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus has raised fears of an all-out regional war in the Middle East region as many countries are actively trying to prevent such an escalation.
Iran has vowed to punish Israel for the attack that killed seven members of its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), including two generals on April 1. At least six Syrian citizens were also killed. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that the Israeli regime “must be punished and will be punished” for its strike in the Syrian capital.
Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The evil Zionist regime committed another mistake ... and that was the attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The consulate and diplomatic missions in any country are considered to be the territory of that country. When they attack our consulate, it means they have attacked our soil.”
Last week, the United States, Britain and France opposed a Russian-drafted UN Security Council statement that would have condemned the attack.
Iran’s mission to the UN said on Thursday that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel’s attack could have prevented the need for retaliation.
“Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated,” it said on the social media platform X.
Diplomatic efforts are underway to prevent a possible Iran’s response to the Israeli attack.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to urge “maximum restraint” to avoid further escalation.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that, “Right now it’s very important for everyone to maintain restraint so as not to lead to a complete destabilization of the situation in the region, which doesn’t exactly shine with stability and predictability,”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron also called the Iranian foreign minister to appeal for “restraint” by the Islamic Republic.
The UK’s top diplomat, however, got a dressing-down from his Iranian counterpart on Thursday over Britain’s refusal to condemn the aggression.
“Regarding the Israeli regime’s airstrike on the consular section of the Islamic Republic of Iran embassy in Damascus, Amir- Abdollahian criticized the inaction of Britain in condemning” the attack, official news agency IRNA reported.
The US has also asked China and other countries, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, to urge Tehran not to launch a retaliatory attack on Israel.
Other western and Arab governments have also sought to convince Iran to show restraint.