Iran said yesterday it has the “legal right” to respond to the assassination in Tehran last week of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, an attack blamed on Israel amid the Gaza offensive.
“No one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime”, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told a regular news conference, referring to Israel.
He maintained that Iran “does not seek to aggravate tensions in the region”, which have soared since the Israel’s offensive in Gaza broke out in early October and rose further since Wednesday’s attack in Tehran.
Calls for de-escalation have intensified following the high-profile killing, with world powers fearing an all-out regional war.
Kanani yesterday said: “We believe the consolidation of stability and security in the region will be achieved by punishing the aggressor and creating a deterrent against the adventurous behaviour and extraterritorial terrors of the Zionist regime”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country was at “a very high level” of preparedness for any scenario, “defensive and offensive”, reports AFP.
The US is deploying additional military might in the Middle East as a defensive measure with a goal of de-escalating tensions in the region, a White House official said on Sunday.
US President Joe Biden was due to convene his national security team in the situation room yesterday to discuss developments in the Middle East, the White House said, adding that he would speak with Jordan’s King Abdullah as well.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has continued strikes across Gaza yesterday. At least 40 Palestinians were killed and 71 injured in the enclave during the past 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 39,623 Palestinians have been killed and 91,469 have been injured in Israeli military offensive on Gaza since October 7.
Rescuers are still looking for survivors of Israeli attacks on two Gaza City schools. At least 16 Palestinians are still missing, including children, under the remnants of these areas that were targeted by Israel without any prior warning.
In the occupied West Bank, two children are among at least 25 Palestinians who have been arrested by Israeli forces from Sunday evening to yesterday morning, reports Al Jazeera online.
In Lebanon, its health ministry said two people were killed yesterday in an Israeli strike on the country’s south, with Hezbollah announcing one of its fighters died and local rescuers mourning a paramedic.
Since last week, tensions have soared as Iran and Tehran-backed groups, including Hezbollah, vowed revenge for the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran and Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut.
