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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.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.