Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani on Tuesday said Tehran has a right to retaliate against Israel.
He pushed back against a joint statement from the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. that urged Iran not to attack Israel, according to state-run media outlet Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), arguing they lacked political understanding.
Three senior Iranian officials told Reuters that only a cease-fire in Gaza could stop the attack now.
- The U.S. has invited Hamas and Israel to negotiations on Thursday aimed at reaching a deal to release the 115 hostages still in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a cease-fire.
- But Hamas said it was not attending the talks this week.
An Iranian attack could come within days, U.S. and Israeli officials have said.
The U.S. is moving a new aircraft carrier strike group into the Middle East region, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which will replace another one currently on deployment in the area.
The Pentagon also has a guided missile submarine and F-22 fighter jets as additional assets.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. has “sent an extremely clear signal” to Iran not to attack Israel.
“We are going to support the defense of Israel,” he said at a Tuesday briefing. “We will have a variety of capacity and capability to respond to various contingencies.”
Iran may choose to strike with its regional proxies, including Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, which has been trading fire over the border with Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza war more than 10 months ago.
Hezbollah is also vowing to retaliate for an Israeli strike two weeks ago that killed the top military commander.
An Iranian source told Reuters that Iran and its proxies may attack together if Gaza negotiations fail or Israel is perceived as dragging out the talks.
President Biden expressed some concerns about the hostage and cease-fire deal Tuesday.
“It’s getting harder,” he said. “I’m not giving up.”
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
