WASHINGTON\/LONDON: The United States and UK urged Iran on Saturday to stop attacking Israel to break the cycle of violence after Israel launched strikes against the Islamic republic in retaliation for a missile barrage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge Iran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation,\u201d US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. I\u2019m equally clear that we need to avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint. Iran should not respond,\u201d British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, speaking at a press conference in Samoa, where he has been attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday, hitting military bases and missile sites, and other systems in several regions.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir response was an exercise in self-defense and specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets, contrary to Iran\u2019s attack against Israel that targeted Israel\u2019s most populous city,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Stressing that the United States did not participate in the operation, he said \u201cit is our aim to accelerate diplomacy and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region.\u201d<\/p>\n
A senior administration official said President Joe Biden and his national security team have worked with the \u201cIsraelis over recent weeks to encourage Israel to conduct a response that was targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that appears to have been precisely what transpired this evening,\u201d the official told reporters.<\/p>\n
President Biden had encouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u201cto design a response that served to deter further attacks against Israel while reducing risks of further escalation, and that is our objective.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON\/LONDON: The United States and UK urged Iran on Saturday to stop attacking Israel to break the cycle of violence after Israel launched strikes against the Islamic republic in retaliation for a missile barrage. \u201cWe urge Iran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation,\u201d US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n