Russian President and Iran’s ally Vladimir Putin has urged Tehran to avoid attacking civilians in an expected attack on the Jewish state over the assassination of a Hamas top leader, a senior Iranian source said.
As Iran pressed Moscow on Monday to deliver Russian-made Su-35 fighter jets, the Kremlin’s national security chief Sergei Shoigu conveyed a message from Putin to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging restraint, sources told Reuters.
Moscow has become the latest superpower to urge Iran to respond sensitively to the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an Israeli bombing in Tehran last week.
Russia issued the warning in the process of providing Tehran with advanced air defense systems in preparation for any retaliatory attacks on Israel. According to the New York Times:.
The Iranian Defense Ministry has denied the reports.
Putin criticized Haniyeh’s killing as a “very dangerous assassination” that threatened stability in the Middle East and condemned the United States, Israel’s biggest ally, while stressing that the war in Gaza cannot be allowed to spread to the entire region.
The Russian warning came after both the United States and Jordan expressed similar concerns, and Iran is expected to face additional deterrence from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a 57-nation intergovernmental body.
Tehran has called for an emergency meeting of the OIC on Wednesday to discuss Haniyeh’s assassination and Iran’s response.
OIC officials released a statement on Wednesday morning condemning Haniyeh’s death on Iranian territory and Israel’s war on Gaza.
The official also avoided discussing an imminent Iranian attack on Israel, but insisted the OIC needed to “avoid the risk of an all-out regional war that would undermine the security and stability of the entire Middle East region.”
Hezbollah has vowed to launch retaliatory attacks against Israel, along with Iran, for the death of a senior commander who was killed the day before the Haniya attack.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hezbollah would pay a heavy price if its near-daily attacks on northern Israel escalate to the point of no return.
“This could escalate into war. This is not just a theory, this is a reality,” Gallant said at a military event on Wednesday.
With post wire
