UPDATED 10:45 A.M.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel faced growing pressure from allies on Monday to show restraint and avoid an escalation of conflict in the Middle East as it considered how to respond to Iran’s weekend missile and drone attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours, a government source said. Two top officials signalled on Sunday that retaliation was not imminent and Israel would not act alone, but the results of Monday’s talks were not yet known.
Iran’s attack has increased fears of open warfare between Israel and Iran, and heightened concerns that violence will spread further in the region. Wary of the dangers, President Joe Biden has told Netanyahu the United States will not take part in any Israeli counter-offensive against Iran.
Since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, clashes have erupted between Israel and Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and Israel said four of its soldiers were wounded hundreds of metres inside Lebanese territory overnight.
It appeared to be the first such incident to become known since the Gaza war erupted, leading to months of exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah.
“We’re on the edge of the cliff and we have to move away from it,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told Spanish radio station Onda Cero. “We have to step on the brakes and reverse gear.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron made similar appeals, all echoing calls for restraint by Washington and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Countries including Belgium and Germany summoned the Iranian ambassadors.
Russia has refrained from criticising its ally Iran inpublic over the strikes but expressed concern about the risk of escalation on Monday and also called for restraint.
“Further escalation is in no one’s interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Iran launched the attack over a suspected Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers including two senior commanders.
The weekend attack, involving more than 300 missiles and drones, caused only modest damage in Israel and no deaths. Most were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and with help from the U.S., Britain, France and Jordan.
ITALY OPEN TO SANCTIONS
Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven major democracies, raised the possibility of the G7 discussing new sanctions against Iran following the attack.
In an interview with Reuters, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said new sanctions would need the backing of all the G7, which includes Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Britain and the United States. He suggested any new measures would be focused on individuals rather than whole nations.
“If we need to have more sanctions for people clearly engaged against Israel, supporting for example terrorism, supporting Hamas, it is possible to do it. But we need to be very serious and to work all together,” Tajani said.
Asian shares fell and gold prices rose on Monday as risk sentiment took a hit. But oil prices dipped and Israel’s shekel rose against the dollar after the comments by two senior Israeli officials – Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and centrist minister Benny Gantz – suggesting an Israeli response was not imminent.
Iran’s attack also caused travel disruption, with at least a dozen airlines cancelling or rerouting flights, and Europe’s aviation regulator reaffirming advice to airlines to use caution in Israeli and Iranian airspace.
Israel remained on high alert, but authorities lifted some emergency measures that had included a ban on some school activities and caps on large gatherings.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Tehran had informed the United States that the attack on Israel would be limited and for self-defence, and that regional neighbours had been informed of the planned strikes 72 hours in advance.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday, however, that no pre-arranged agreement was made with any country prior to the weekend attack. U.S. officials said Tehran had not warned Washington.
Iran’s attack has drawn applause in Gaza, where Israel began a military campaign against Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel, killing 1,200 and taking 253 hostages by Israeli tallies. Gaza’s health ministry says over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive and that the enclave faces a humanitarian catastrophe.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said humanitarian aid getting into the Gaza Strip had increased by a large amount in the last few days, but many Gazans are still displaced by fighting and unable to return home.
“We can live in tents, we just want to return to our homes,” displaced Gazan Souad Zayed said the Nuseirat refugee camp. “We’re not crying over bricks and mortar, or money or trees or anything, what’s important that they let us return to our homes. There’s a lot of people, we’re exhausted.”
(Reporting by James MacKenzie and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Jeff Mason and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Nidal al-Mughrabi and Adam Makary in Cairo; writing by Timothy Heritage; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not participate in any Israeli counter-offensive against Iran, U.S. officials said on Sunday.
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night in response to a suspected Israeli attack on Iran’s Syria consulate on April 1.
In a statement issued late on Saturday following the attacks, Biden said he told Netanyahu that Israel had “demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks.”
Biden did not say in the statement if he and Netanyahu discussed a possible Israeli response or potential U.S. involvement.
“We believe Israel has freedom of action to protect itself and defend itself, in Syria or elsewhere… That’s a long-standing policy and that remains, but no we would not envision ourselves participating in such a thing,” one senior U.S. administration official said.
John Kirby, the White House’s top national security spokesperson, told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday that the United States will continue to help Israel defend itself, but does not want war with Iran.
Asked if the United States would support retaliation from Israel in Iran, Kirby said that “our commitment is ironclad” to defending Israel and to “helping Israel defend itself.”
“And as the president has said many times, we don’t seek a wider war in the region. We don’t seek a war with Iran. And I think I will leave it at that,” Kirby added.
“We don’t seek escalated tensions in the region. We don’t seek a wider conflict,” Kirby said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Will Dunham and Michael Perry)
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