Tehran (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Iran criticized global inaction on Israel’s actions in Gaza, asserting Iran’s right to retaliate and condemning EU and UN responses as inadequate.
How Has Iran Defended Its Right to Retaliate Against Israel?
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian informed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a phone call that the stillness of the international community in the face of Israel’s “unprecedented and inhumane offences” in Gaza encouraged it to persist committing atrocities while endangering regional and global peace and security.
Pezeshkian said that war in any part of the earth is not in the interest of any country while stressing that a “punitive response to an aggressor is a lawful right of states and a way to stop crime and aggression.”
What Are Iran’s Criticisms of the EU’s Stance on Gaza?
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani gave a similar message, expressing that the Islamic Republic will defend its national security and sovereignty and does not ask for consent to exercise its rights. Kanaani made the statement in reply to a letter published by the UK, France, and Germany, advising Iran not to retaliate for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 1 August.
Iran has also firmly decided to help establish permanent stability in the region and destroy the main cause of terrorism and insecurity, Kanaani stated. The Foreign Ministry spokesman added that the three EU countries have been apathetic to Israel’s continued “genocidal acts and war crimes against defenceless Palestinians.”
Kanaani slammed the UN and its Security Council for failing to stop Israel from committing horrific crimes in Gaza for over 10 months. He said that the European nations’ request that Iran not reply to the Hamas leader’s assassination would “enable the criminals to continue massacre, genocide, and crime against humanity.”
The spokesman expressed if those mentioned countries were really after a truce and stability in the region, they should stand against Israel and pursue to end the war on Gaza and the killing of children and women.
How Are the US and Israel Preparing for Potential Iranian Retaliation?
The US and Israel persist in bracing for an Iranian retaliatory raid. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called a guided missile submarine, the USS Georgia, to West Asia and accelerated the arrival of a carrier strike group to the region, the Pentagon said Sunday. Amid the stress, talks for a ceasefire and captive exchange between Israel and Hamas remain prepared for this week.
Iran’s UN mission stated it hopes that its attack on Israel “will be timed and executed in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire.” “Direct and intermediary official channels to trade messages have always existed between Iran and the United States, the details of which both parties prefer to remain untold,” it said.
