Iran said to dismiss US, Arab calls for restraint — even if it sparks war
US warns Iranian attack will hamper relations with West; Israel bracing for multi-day assault; Netanyahu consulting with defense chiefs, considering ‘preventative measures’
Iran has rejected attempts by the US and Arab nations to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, as Israel braces for an attack from the Islamic Republic and the Lebanese Iran-supported Hezbollah, saying they would strike the Jewish state even if it means war, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have escalated since Wednesday, when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in an attack Iran blamed on Israel, vowing to retaliate.
According to the Wall Street Journal report, foreign ministers from Jordan and Lebanon traveled to Iran in an attempt to diffuse the situation, but Iran told the Arab diplomats that it was set on striking back against Israel and “it didn’t care if the response triggered a war.”
Israel is preparing for the possibility of an Iranian-led attack that would include missiles being fired at Israel over the course of multiple days, according to a Sunday NBC report, citing an unnamed Israeli official.
Israel has said repeatedly that any action against it would be met with retaliation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeating this while telling the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that “the State of Israel is in a multi-front war against Iran’s axis of evil.”
Netanyahu was meeting with his security chiefs on Sunday evening. Earlier, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held a similar consultation with senior military and defense officials.
The Defense Ministry said the meeting was focused on “the security developments, and the various options to exact a price for attempted attacks from Iran and its proxies.”
Israel does not yet have a “definitive picture” of the attacks it will be facing, Channel 12 reported.
The TV news report also said Israel’s security establishment was considering the possibility of “preventive actions or attacks” Israel could initiate, “including in Lebanon or perhaps in other places as necessitated.”
Earlier Sunday, when asked why Israel was not taking pre-emptive actions, IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said, “We are watching our enemies on all fronts and certainly Hezbollah in Lebanon. We have very wide-ranging plans, we have a high readiness to act. Any instruction we get from the political echelon, we will carry out immediately.”
The TV report said that the US is also not certain what to expect from Iran and Hezbollah, noting that the Iranians have likely not made a clear decision yet, nor finished coordinating with their proxies. Channel 12 said that a US-led international coalition to thwart any attacks has taken shape, and will be directed from CENTCOM in Qatar.
Asked by numerous countries how it will respond to such attacks, and whether it is heading for war, Israel has been saying “very ambiguously” that it is “keeping all its options open,” the report said.
That ambiguous response is one of the reasons why many countries are urging their citizens to leave Lebanon immediately, the report said.
It added that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering visiting the region in the very near future, in light of US concern over a potential regional conflagration.
Meanwhile, the WSJ report noted, the US asked European nations to urge Iran to de-escalate and warned that any offensive action on the Islamic Regime’s part would greatly harm new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s efforts to develop ties with the West.
The US’s message also said that it was urging Israel to de-escalate. Nonetheless, the US has scrambled to revive a regional coalition that, in April, succeeded in almost entirely thwarting an unprecedented Iranian attack on Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles.
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran early on Wednesday morning, hours after an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah’s military chief, Fuad Shukr, near Beirut. Israel took responsibility for Shukr’s killing, but has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, other than to say that the country had not carried out any other airstrikes in the Middle East that night.
Hezbollah vowed to retaliate for Shukr’s killing, and regardless of Israel not taking responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, Iran said it would strike at Israel in response. As a result, the IDF was on high alert over the weekend and remained so as the new week began.
On April 13, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, the vast majority of which were intercepted by a coalition of Israel’s allies and other nations in the region.
While 99 percent of the projectiles were downed in that attack and only one person was injured, Israeli officials are said to assess that this time around there may be damage and more casualties.
The region has been in turmoil since October 7, when Hamas launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Israel responded with a ground invasion in Gaza with the proclaimed objectives of dismantling Hamas and getting the hostages back.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 331.
Meanwhile, since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza during the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 25 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 387 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 69 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
