The White House has said it was preparing for a significant attack by Iran or its proxies as early as this week, and Iran has asserted its right to an “appropriate and deterrent response” against Israel.
The remarks came shortly after the United States announced it had ordered the deployment of the nuclear-powered missile submarine Georgia to the Middle East amid growing concerns about Iran and its proxies’ determination to retaliate for Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani made the remarks to his Chinese counterpart on Monday, state media said.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said an Iranian response to the killing “may come this week,” but added that “it is difficult to gauge at this point what an attack by Iran or its proxies, if any, would look like.” He said the US and its allies were preparing for “a range of significant attacks.”
Amid growing fears of an imminent attack, Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar issued the order banning career military leave travel, a day after it was reported he had instructed soldiers traveling in Georgia and Azerbaijan to return to Israel immediately.
Earlier, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain had urged Tehran to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions following the killing of Haniyeh and other Hezbollah leaders in Beirut last month.
A joint statement signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer supported calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the many hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid.
“The fighting must end immediately and all hostages held by Hamas must be released. The people of Gaza need urgent and unhindered access to and distribution of aid,” the statement said.
Mr Starmer and Mr Scholz called Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to urge him to do all he can to prevent a further escalation of military tensions. A government spokesman said the prime minister told Pezeshkian “there are serious risks of miscalculation and now is the time for calm and thought”.
The rapidly escalating tensions come as Iranian and Israeli officials say Tehran is on the brink of a major retaliatory attack.
On Friday, a deputy commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards told a local news agency that they were preparing to carry out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order to “severely punish” Israel over Haniyeh’s assassination on July 31.
Axios Reported Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday that Iran is preparing a major military attack on Israel within the next few days.
Gallant’s ministry statement on Monday confirmed the call, which took place overnight. The ministry said Gallant and Austin discussed operational and strategic coordination, as well as the Israeli military’s preparedness to combat the Iranian threat.
The U.S. military has already announced it will send additional fighter jets and naval ships to the Middle East to bolster Israel’s defenses.
Growing fears of an Iranian attack have led many international airlines to cancel flights to the region.
German airline Lufthansa said on Monday it was extending the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Erbil until Aug. 21 and would also avoid using Iranian and Iraqi airspace.
The risk of a broader conflict with Iran and its proxies is growing amid continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza, where officials with the Hamas-run health ministry say some 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict erupted in October when Hamas launched surprise attacks on communities in southern Israel.
The Israeli army ordered further evacuations in southern Gaza on Sunday, a day after a missile attack on a school shelter in northern Gaza killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to local health officials, in one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month war.
Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its troops return to badly damaged areas where they fought Palestinian militants. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced to flee multiple times in the besieged area, which is 25 miles (40 km) long and about 7 miles (11 km) wide.
The latest evacuation orders apply to parts of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, including part of a humanitarian area where the Israeli military said rockets were fired, and Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of hiding out among civilians and launching attacks from residential areas.
The humanitarian area has steadily dwindled during the war due to various evacuation orders, with hundreds of thousands of people forced into squalid tent camps with few public services or seeking refuge in schools, hundreds of which have been directly attacked or damaged, according to the UN.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said it should consider imposing sanctions in response to a call by Israel’s far-right national security minister to halt aid to Gaza.
Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on X late on Sunday that Itamar Ben Gvir’s recent comments amounted to “incitement to war crimes,” adding that “sanctions must be on the EU’s agenda.”
In his posts on X and in media interviews, Ben Gvir said that rather than agreeing to a ceasefire, Israel should block the flow of humanitarian aid and fuel into Gaza until Hamas releases all hostages, which he said would force the militant group to submit.
Ben Gvir has repeatedly called for Israel to permanently reoccupy the Gaza Strip, rebuild Jewish settlements and encourage “voluntary” Palestinian relocation from the strip. A leading member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, he has warned that he would topple the government if it makes too many concessions in ceasefire talks.
Borrell called on the Israeli government to “unequivocally distance itself from incitement to commit war crimes” and to engage “in good faith” in ceasefire talks brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
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