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Iran Rejects ‘Impudent’ European Calls Urging Not to Attack Israel
Iranians attend the funeral procession of assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran on Tuesday rejected calls from Europe to exercise restraint and not attack Israel in response to its alleged killing of a top Hamas leader in the Iranian capital city of Tehran last month.
Iran’s foreign ministry dismissed the pleas from France, Britain, and Germany, saying they “lack political logic and contradict principles of international law.”
The three European countries on Monday issued a joint statement urging Iran and its proxies in the Middle East to refrain from attacking Israel after Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was killed in Tehran on July 31.
Iran, along with Hamas and its chief terrorist proxy Lebanon-based Hezbollah, have accused Israel of carrying out the assassination. The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
“Without any objection to the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel], the E3 statement impudently requires Iran not to respond to a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in reference to the European statement.
Kanaani added that Tehran was determined to deter Israel and called on Paris, London, and Berlin to “once and for all stand up against the war in Gaza and the warmongering of Israel.” He also blamed “the extensive political and military support of Western governments to the Zionist regime” as the main reasons for the “regional expansion of the Gaza crisis.”
The foreign ministry’s remarks came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday night insisted that Iran’s Islamist regime has “the right to respond to aggressors,” according to a statement published by official news agency IRNA following a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
IRNA also reported that Pezeshkian told Britain’s prime minister that Iran has a right to retaliate against Israel for the killing of Haniyeh and that such retaliation would deter future aggression.
Meanwhile, Israeli Army Radio reported that Israel has conveyed messages to the US and European countries that a direct attack by Iran will be met with an Israeli strike on Iranian territory.
On Monday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby warned that Israel and its allies “have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks” as early as “this week.”
The Pentagon said on Sunday that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of a guided missile submarine to the Middle East in what US officials described as a message to Iran.
“We’re trying to send a message, which is we’re looking to de-escalate the situation, that we’re looking to have capabilities in the region to protect our forces while also support the defense of Israel,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday.
The US ambassador to Turkey confirmed that Washington has been asking allies, including Ankara, to convince Iran to de-escalate the situation.
Tensions in the Middle East have intensified after Iranian officials threatened retaliation for the assassination of Haniyeh.
Hezbollah has also said it will target Israel in a major way after the Jewish state killed the terrorist group’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut. The strike occurred several hours before Haniyeh’s assassination.
Hezbollah has been firing drones, rockets, and missiles at Israel almost daily since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
According to reports, the expected Iranian ad Hezbollah response will likely be larger than Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on Israeli soil in April. In that attack, Iran fired some 300 missiles and drones at Israel, nearly all of which were downed by the Jewish state and its allies.
Reuters, citing three anonymous “senior Iranian officials,” reported on Tuesday that only a ceasefire deal in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where Israel has been waging a military campaign for the past 10 months against Palestinian terrorists, would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel.
Hamas on Sunday said that it will not attend a final round of negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release agreement set for this Thursday. Israel accepted the invitation from the US, Egypt, and Qatar to attend the meeting.
Reuters contributed to this report.
The post Iran Rejects ‘Impudent’ European Calls Urging Not to Attack Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.