Iran will respond to any action against its interests, says President Ebrahim Raisi
\nJERUSALEM
\nIsraelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran\u2019s first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
\nNetanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran\u2019s weekend missile and drone attack, a government source said.
\nIDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Israel would respond. He provided no details.
\n\u201cThis launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles, and drones into Israeli territory will be met with a response,\u201d he said at the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, which sustained some damage in Saturday night\u2019s attack.
\nThe prospect of Israeli retaliation has alarmed many Iranians already enduring economic pain and tighter social and political controls since protests in 2022-23.
\nIran will respond to any action against its interests, President Ebrahim Raisi told Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Tuesday, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.
\nIran launched the attack in retaliation for the April 1 Israeli airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus, and signalled that it does not seek further escalation.
\nWhile the attack caused no deaths and limited damage, it has increased fears of open warfare between the long-time foes and fuelled concerns that violence rooted in the Gaza war is spreading.
\nUS President Joe Biden told Netanyahu at the weekend that the United States, which helped Israel blunt the Iranian attack, will not participate in an Israeli counter-strike.
\nSince the war in Gaza began in October, clashes have erupted between Israel and Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Israel said four of its soldiers were wounded hundreds of meters inside Lebanese territory overnight.
\nIt appeared to be the first such known incident since the Gaza war erupted, although there have been several exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon\u2019s armed group Hezbollah.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re on the edge of the cliff and we have to move away from it,\u201d Josep Borrell, the European Union\u2019s foreign affairs chief, told Spanish radio station Onda Cero. \u201cWe have to step on the brakes and reverse gear.\u201d
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron made similar appeals. Washington and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also have called for restraint.
\nWhite House national security spokesman John Kirby declined on Monday to say if Biden urged Netanyahu in talks on Saturday night to exercise restraint in responding to Iran.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to see a war with Iran. We don\u2019t want to see a regional conflict,\u201d Kirby told a briefing, adding that it was for Israel to decide \u201cwhether and how they\u2019ll respond.\u201d
\nUS Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Iran\u2019s actions threaten stability in the Middle East and could cause economic spillovers. The US would use sanctions, and work with allies, to keep disrupting Iran\u2019s \u201cmalign and destabilizing activity\u201d, she added.
\nHowever, some analysts said the Biden administration was unlikely to undertake dramatic sanctions action on Iran\u2019s oil exports due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China.
\nIn a call between the Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers, China said it believed Iran could \u201chandle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil\u201d while safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity, according to Chinese state media.
\nRussia has refrained from publicly criticising its ally Iran but has also urged restraint.
\n\u201cFurther escalation is in no one\u2019s interests,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran will respond to any action against its interests, says President Ebrahim Raisi JERUSALEM Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran\u2019s first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-400651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n