Iran says it will punish Israel but wants to avoid all-out war
Iran signaled it wants to avoid all-out war with Israel, even as it threatened to retaliate for last week’s assassination of a leading Hamas figure in its capital.
Tehran, which had already vowed revenge for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, said it aimed to deter Israel from repeating similar moves. Israel’s neither confirmed nor denied being responsible.
“Reinforcing stability and security in the region will be achieved by punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against Israel and its adventurism,” a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry told reporters on Monday in Tehran.
The Islamic Republic has the right, within the framework of international law, to punish Israel but does not want to escalate tensions in the Middle East, the spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, said.
The Israeli shekel fell for a sixth day on Monday to around 3.82 per dollar, its weakest level on a closing basis since November. Israeli stocks steadied after Iran’s latest comments but are still down heavily in the last three trading sessions. Part of the fall in the shekel and equities may be down to a rout across global stock markets on Monday.
Israel’s in a “multi-front war against Iran’s axis of evil,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. “We are striking every one of its arms with great force. We are prepared for any scenario – both offensively and defensively.”
The U.S., which is moving a fighter jet squadron to the region and keeping an aircraft carrier nearby to help Israel, is pressing Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas over their war in Gaza. The U.S. and Arab states believe an end to fighting in the Palestinian territory would calm the region.
Group of Seven foreign ministers spoke on Sunday about the risks of a regional war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said their was an “urgent need for de-escalation.”
Blinken told his G-7 counterparts that an attack on Israel by Iran and Hezbollah could begin as early as Monday, Axios reported.
Haniyeh was killed just hours after a deadly airstrike in Beirut against Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander. Israel said it was responsible for that hit and blamed Shukr for organizing a rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers playing football.
Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire with Israel across Lebanon’s border since the war in Gaza started in October, has also threatened to retaliate against the Jewish state. The Shiite group may act in coordination with Iran, its sponsor.
Iran and Israel exchanged fire in April when Tehran accused its arch enemy of striking a consulate building in Syria. Iran launched 300 drones and missiles at Israel. Yet it effectively telegraphed the move in advance, helping Israel and its allies intercept almost all the projectiles and ensuring they caused little damage. Israel, under pressure from the U.S. and Europe not to respond aggressively, launched a limited strike on an Iranian airbase.
This time, Iran’s revenge may be more fierce, given the sheer embarrassment of having a foreign dignitary assassinated in the heart of its capital. Its options range from another direct assault on Israel to getting its proxies to step up attacks on the country to hitting Israeli targets across the world.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both designated terrorist organizations by the U.S. and are part of what’s often called Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance,’ a group of anti-Israel and anti-U.S. militias in the Middle East.
The war in Gaza erupted when Hamas fighters swarmed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israel’s subsequent offensive on Gaza has killed around 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.