Washington- The US has asked a number of countries, including China, Turkiye, and Saudi Arabia, to urge the Islamic Republic against retaliating to Israel’s attack on its consulate in Damascus.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the topic with several officials over the week, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“We have also engaged with European allies and partners over the past few days and urged them as well to send a clear message to Iran: that escalation is not in Iran’s interest, it’s not in the region’s interest and it’s not in the world’s interest,” State Department spokesman Mathew Miller said on 11 April.
Blinken also spoke to the foreign ministers of Turkiye and Saudi Arabia and told them to “urge Iran not to escalate.”
While speaking with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Blinken expressed Washington’s “strong support for Israel against these threats,” Miller added.
“Washington has informed allies that Iran’s retaliation could be imminent,” an informed source told Financial Times (FT).
Another source told FT that the US believes a direct Iranian strike on Israel is possible.
According to sources who spoke with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Iran is “proposing the following: If a ceasefire is reached in Gaza and Israel does not attack the city of Rafah, it is ready, in order to reduce escalation and tension, not to take any action against Israel at the present time.” The sources said there has been no response to this proposal.
They added that Israel is attempting to get out of the “impasse” it faces in Gaza by “provoking new crises” and trying to drag Iran and the US into direct confrontation.
Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria’s capital, Damascus, on 1 April killed several top officials and advisors, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It also leveled the entire consulate building, marking an unprecedented violation of international law’s protection of diplomatic missions.
Several Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have vowed that the strike will not go unanswered.
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