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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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Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
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Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports
People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
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Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.