Russia, Germany and Britain on Thursday, the 11th of April, called on Middle East countries to show restraint and Israel said it was preparing to “meet all its security needs” in a region in turmoil over Iran’s threat to attack Israel, reports Reuters.
Iran has vowed to retaliate for the 1st of April strike on its embassy in Damascus, which killed a senior Iranian general and six military personnel. While Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Israel should be punished for the attack equating it to an attack on Iranian territory.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to urge “maximum restraint” to avoid further escalation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry advised its citizens not to travel to the Middle East
and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that “it is very important for everyone to exercise restraint at this time” to prevent further destabilisation in an already unstable and unpredictable region.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Thursday that he had made it clear to Amir-Abdollahian that Iran should not drag the Middle East into a wider conflict.
“I am very concerned about a possible miscalculation that could lead to more violence.” Cameron told on X.
Tehran’s UN mission said on Thursday that if the UN Security Council had condemned the strike and held the perpetrators accountable, it would have been possible
to avoid “Iran’s obligation to punish this rogue regime”.
Iran has told Washington that it will respond to the Israeli attack in a way that avoids a major escalation and will not act hastily, nor will the attack be so large as to draw Washington into the war, Iranian and US sources have said.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that Israel would respond directly to any Iranian attack, Gallant’s office said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on foreign counterparts to urge Iran not to escalate tensions, while President Joe Biden assured strong US support for Israel’s security against such threats from Iran and its proxies.
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