Israel and its allies say they shot down more than 99 percent of the hundreds of drones and missiles fired at Israel last week by Iran, but Israeli leaders have publicly insisted their Iran has no choice but to respond.
According to the US foreign policy think tank, this was the message that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly gave to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, despite calls from top Biden administration officials, including President Joe Biden himself, to Israel. That they should be cautious in their response.
Biden also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not participate in or support a direct Israeli attack on Iran.
So will Israel still respond?
According to the Reuters news agency, Israel itself is waiting to see whether Netanyahu will respond to Iran’s first direct attack despite growing international pressure for restraint.
Netanyahu convened a second meeting of his war cabinet in less than 24 hours on Monday to review a response to the Iranian attack, an official source said.
Israeli army chief Herzi Halvi has said that Israel will respond, but he did not provide any details.
“There will be a response to the attack of so many missiles, cruise missiles and drones in Israeli territory,” he said at Nivatam Air Base in southern Israel.
Jonathan Lord is a former US defense official and congressional aide who is now director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington-based think tank. “Israel will probably have to respond, but there is no pressure on it to respond immediately,” he said. They don’t need to hurry.’
Israel is already embroiled in a seven-month war in Gaza. It has little chance of fighting against Iran’s army of at least 500,000 personnel. Chatham House Associate Fellow Naomi Bar Yaakov told the Al Jazeera channel that Netanyahu plans to distract from the war in Gaza and drag the US and other Western allies back into the Middle East.
Nuclear concerns
Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has expressed concern over a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by Israel.
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Raphael Grossi, said this after the statement of the head of the Israeli army, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halvi.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Khani has already said that his country will respond within seconds to any fresh attack by Israel.
Speculation is mounting over a possible retaliatory strike by Israel, but attention has now turned to Tehran’s nuclear facilities, which were shut down on Sunday due to ‘security concerns’.
The facilities were reopened on Saturday, after which Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, said regular inspections would resume on Tuesday.
Asked about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, he said: ‘We are always concerned about that possibility. We urge extreme restraint.’
Internal and external pressure
Opinion polls in Israel show that the prime minister’s popularity is extremely low. After Netanyahu built his credibility on the claim that only he and his Likud party stood between the Israelis and their annihilation, the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 has severely damaged his credibility.
HA Hellyer, an authority on Middle East security at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Royal United Services Institute, said Israel’s options are most affected by the fact that Netanyahu, who is in trouble both domestically and internationally. , would choose to capitalize on Western sympathy for Tel Aviv after the Iranian attack.
Since October 7, protests against the handling of the war in Gaza have been increasing because they are believed not to be interested in the release of the remaining Israeli prisoners.
Iran launched the attack on April 1 in response to an Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus and signaled that it did not want to escalate tensions further.
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Although the attack caused no casualties and limited damage, it has raised fears of open war between the long-time enemies and fueled concerns that the roots of the Gaza war are spreading.
Clashes between Israel and Iran-aligned groups have continued in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq since the offensive in Gaza began in October. Israel says four of its soldiers were wounded hundreds of meters inside Lebanese territory late last night.
EU foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell told Spanish radio station Onda Cerro: ‘We are on the edge of the abyss and we have to move away from it. We have to apply the brakes and reverse gear.’
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Schulz and British Foreign Minister David Cameron have also made similar appeals. Washington and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres have also called for restraint.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby declined to say Monday whether Biden had urged Netanyahu to exercise restraint in responding to Iran during the Saturday night conversation.
“We don’t want a war with Iran,” Kirby said in a briefing. We don’t want territorial conflict. It is up to Israel what and how it will respond.’
Russia has refrained from openly criticizing its ally Iran, but has also urged restraint. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said further escalation is not in anyone’s interest.
China said it believed Iran could “handle the situation well and prevent further chaos in the region” while safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdullahian on Monday, said that China appreciates Iran’s insistence on not targeting regional and neighboring countries.
G7 considers sanctions on Iran
British Prime Minister Rishi Singh has said that the Group of Seven major democracies is considering a package of coordinated measures against Iran.
“I spoke to my G7 fellow leaders, we are united in our condemnation of this attack,” Sink said in parliament.
Italy, which holds the G7 presidency, has said it is open to considering new sanctions and suggested any new measures would target individuals. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Reuters in an interview that all G7 member states must support the new sanctions.
Air travel has been disrupted in the wake of Iran’s attack, with at least a dozen airlines canceling or rerouting flights. Europe’s aviation regulator has advised airlines to exercise caution in Israeli and Iranian airspace.
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2024-08-31 07:57:09
