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Yet, Iran’s chief of general staff, Gen Mohammad Bagheri, said on Sunday that the operation was considered a success, adding further attacks on Tehran’s part were not necessary.
The permanent mission to the UN of Iran had issued a similar message on Saturday night, claiming the attack had been carried out in response to the strike on an Iranian consular building in Damascus, Syria, on April 1, and the matter was now deemed “concluded”.
A message on X read: “Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defence, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s [Israel] aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded.
“However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe. It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the US MUST STAY AWAY!”
The mission referred to the bombing of the consular building next to the Iranian embassy in Syria, which resulted in the death of seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two high-ranking generals. Iran blamed Israel for the attack, while Tel Aviv has not acknowledged its role in it.
Despite Iran saying it considers the matter closed, the country’s president Ebrahim Raisi warned: “If the Zionist regime [Israel] or its supporters demonstrate reckless behaviour, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response.”
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called on both Iran and Israel during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council not to further escalate tensions, as “neither the region nor the world can afford more war”.
Western allies of Israel, including the US and UK, have urged the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint and to avoid a major escalation, which could plunge the Middle East into a wider regional conflict.
UK Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron said on Monday: “We should first of all reflect that this was a pretty significant attack, 110 ballistic missiles, 36 cruise missiles, 185 drones.
“And so, of course, Israel has every right to respond as an independent, sovereign country being attacked in this way. But I think we’re very anxious to avoid escalation and to say to our friends in Israel, it’s a time to think with head as well as heart.”
Keen to avoid a dangerous escalation, the Biden administration has told the Israeli government the US would not join an offensive counter-strike on Iran should Israel go down that path, two people familiar with the conversation have claimed, as reported by Politico.
Tyler Mitchell