IRAN is entitled to retaliate for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, the Foreign Ministry insisted today, following a call for restraint by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other west European leaders.
“Such demands lack political logic, are entirely contrary to the principles and rules of international law and represent an excessive request,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
In a joint statement, Sir Keir, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appealed to Iran and its allies to refrain from any action that would further escalate regional tensions following the late July assassination of Mr Haniyeh and the killing of a senior Hezbollah official in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Israel is widely believed to be responsible for both attacks.
But the ministry said that Iran is determined to defend its rights and does not need any permission to retaliate for the killing of Mr Haniyeh, the state-run Irna news agency reported.
In a telephone conversation on Monday night, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Sir Keir that a punitive response to an aggressor is “a right of nations and a solution for stopping crimes and aggression.”
Mr Pezeshkian said that the West’s silence about “unprecedented inhumane crime” in Gaza and Israeli attacks elsewhere in the Middle East was “irresponsible” and encouraged Israel to put regional and global security at risk.
The British, French and German leaders’ statement also called for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and for Israel to allow the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid to the devastated Gaza Strip.
More than 10 months since Israel’s invasion began, the Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 in Gaza, according to the coastal enclave's Health Ministry.
Medical officials in Gaza said today that Israeli strikes had killed at least 16 more Palestinians, including four women and seven children, and orphaned another four children.
In Jerusalem, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made a provocative pilgrimage to the city’s most sensitive holy site.
His visit, which came as Jews marked Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning for the destruction of the biblical temples, elicited a rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that prayers there were a “deviation” from decades-old understandings that prohibit Jewish worship at the disputed site known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).
