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Iran rejects European leaders’ call to refrain from retaliatory attacks

Killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month escalated tensions
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Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, center, flanked by his security detail, approach the entrance to Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, which Jews revere the site as the Temple Mount, believed to be the location of the First and Second Temples, and it is a holy site for Muslims as Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, in the Old City, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Iran rejected a call Tuesday by three European countries urging it to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions. Iran calls it an “excessive request.”

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany in a joint statement Monday asked Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iran has blamed Israel.

The European leaders also endorsed the latest push by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war. Talks are expected to resume Thursday. And they called for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza.

After more than 10 months of fighting, the Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there.

Iran’s president told Britain’s prime minister that Tehran considers retaliation against Israel over the July killing of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh a right, and a way to discourage future aggression.

A Tuesday report by the official IRNA news agency said President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a late Monday phone conversation with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said that a punitive response to an aggressor is “a right of nations and a solution for stopping crimes and aggression.”

Pezeshkian 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.

The report said the two leaders discussed ways for restoring peace and stability in the region and the world as well as improving bilateral relations, without elaborating.

According to a statement from his office, Starmer said he was deeply concerned by the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate. During the 30-minute call with Pezeshkian, Starmer asked Iran not to attack Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests.

Israel has not confirmed nor denied its role in the July killing of Haniyeh, but Israel earlier pledged to kill him and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The assassination has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict and of a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran if Tehran retaliates.

Iran does not recognize Israel and supports anti-Israeli militant groups including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Iran rejects European leaders’ call to refrain from any retaliatory attacks

Netanyahu says far-right minister ‘deviated’ in encouraging prayer at sensitive holy site

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a far-right minister who encouraged prayer at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site “deviated” from arrangements governing it.

The rare acknowledgement of a breach in the so-called status quo appeared to be an effort to reduce tensions as Israel braces for possible retaliation from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah over the targeted killing of two top militants last month.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. It is at the emotional heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and perceived encroachments have often sparked violence across the region. Under a longstanding arrangement known as the status quo, Jews can visit the site but not pray there.

Jordan, which serves as custodian of the site and has long condemned Israel’s actions there, is expected to play a major role in defending Israel against any Iranian attack.

On Tuesday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined hundreds of Jews in visiting the site as they commemorated the destruction of the temples. In a video released by his office, Ben-Gvir strolls with supporters and one yells out a Jewish prayer. Ben-Gvir says he has made “very large progress” in easing the rules against Jewish prayer there.

A statement by the prime minister’s office said “it is the government and the prime minister who determine policy on the Temple Mount.”