World leaders urge Israel not to avenge Iran attack

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 15

The US continues to signal de-escalation of tensions after Iran’s “Operation True Promise” against Israel in West Asia even as its President Joe Biden is hosting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani in a sign that Washington is favouring political dialogue with a country whose militias have been attacking US bases in the region.

Biden to host Iraqi PM

• British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says the UK does not support a retaliatory strike
• French President Emmanuel Macron says he will try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating”
• US to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani

Iran President to visit Pak on April 22

• Ebrahim Raisi will visit Pakistan on April 22 and meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and PM Shehbaz Sharif
• Both nations recently conducted missile attacks on each other

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke to his counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Saudi and Israeli counterparts.

World leaders too were urging Israel not to retaliate. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in an interview on Monday that the UK did not support a retaliatory strike. French President Emmanuel Macron said he would try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating”.

The stock market here fell one per cent on Monday over fears of an escalating conflict in West Asia. Similar cues prevailed in other global stock markets as well. On the other hand, Iran appeared keen to damp down animosities elsewhere. It is dispatching President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Pakistan on April 22, where he will meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and PM Shehbaz Sharif. Both nations recently conducted missile attacks on each other and have been at loggerheads over providing safe havens to terrorists targeting the other country.

The Iranian barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday in retaliation for the April 1 Israeli strike on its Consulate in Syria that killed seven military officers and six civilians has led to varying claims about its success. Tehran has claimed that it rendered an Israeli air force base in Negev desert nonoperational. On the other hand, providers of air defence led by Biden said his forces had helped Israel take down “nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told foreign diplomats in Tehran that his country, after Israel’s bombing of its Consulate in Syria, had pursued international legal avenues but the UN Security Council did not “issue even a minimal statement”.

Despite the assuaging statements from world leaders, the threat of an all-out war remained if Tel Aviv countered Iran’s first-ever missile attack on its territory with a strike of its own. Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz has already said that “Israel will exact a price from Iran in a way and time that suits us”. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has also warned of a “much harsher response” against any further action by Israel.

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