Iran in diplomatic push to limit Israel’s retaliation
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Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visiting the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood AFP via Getty Images
Iran in diplomatic push to limit Israel’s retaliation
The Telegraph -Oct12th2024
Iran is making a diplomatic push to limit Israel’s retaliation to its missile strike earlier this month, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Tehran’s government is said to be “extremely nervous” and engaging in urgent diplomatic efforts with Middle Eastern countries to see whether it can reduce the scale of Israel’s response
Its anxiety stems from uncertainty about whether the US can convince Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites and oil facilities, and because its most important proxy militia in the region, Hezbollah, has been significantly weakened in recent weeks, the source told CNN.
Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran’s missile barrage on Oct 1, launched itself in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza, and the assassination of its allies, including Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Hezbollah’s powerful leader, Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
The Iranian attack, which saw more than 200 ballistic missiles fired at Israel, caused little damage.
Nonetheless, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, vowed this week that his country’s response would be “deadly, precise and surprising”. “They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” he added.
US officials now believe that Israel has narrowed down what it will target in its response, thought to be military and energy infrastructure, and have said that the Israeli military is ready to go at any time once the order is given.
There is no indication that the IDF will target nuclear facilities, the sources said when speaking to NBC, but they admitted that had not been provided with specific details.
US officials have continued to urge the Israeli government to make their response proportional, sticking to military targets and avoiding oil, gas and nuclear facilities.
Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defence, spoke with Mr Gallant on Friday night during which they discussed broad strokes about an Israeli response.
In their first conversation in almost two months on Wednesday, Joe Biden, the US president, also told Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, that retaliation should be “proportional.”
Mr Biden reportedly urged Mr Netanyahu to focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and in Lebanon, and urged him to bring an end to the fighting. He is said to have also stressed that it would be difficult to successfully carry out the war in Lebanon and face a strong threat on a second front from Iran.
The Gulf states are mostly eager to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, an Arab diplomat told CNN, and it is unlikely that Iran’s neighbours would explicitly come to Tehran’s defence in the event of an Israeli attack.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have, however, said they will not allow Israel to use their airspace to strike Iran.
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