dpa
Tehran/Moscow
Iran will not compromise on its planned retaliation against Israel for the deadly attack against the Hamas leader in Tehran. “As far as the violation of our territorial integrity is concerned, we will not make any compromises,” said Foreign Office spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday.
Although Iran does not want any escalation in the region, it will definitely punish Israel for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, despite attempts at mediation, the spokesman said, according to the ISNA news agency. Haniyeh, who led the Palestinian Hamas organization, was killed in Tehran last week in a guest house.
The current crisis was also triggered by the recent targeted killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, Lebanon.
Iran and Hamas blame Israel for both attacks. Israel claimed responsibility for the attack on Shukr but has not commented on the accusations regarding Haniyeh’s death.
A regional conflagration is feared if militias allied with Iran, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and militias in Iraq and Syria, get involved.
There has been speculation on social media that Jordan’s Foreign Minister Aiman al-Safadi handed over messages from the United States and Arab countries to Iran during his visit to Tehran on Sunday.
In these messages, the United States is said to have promised Iran that it would resume nuclear negotiations if it refrained from a military response. These could lead to the lifting of sanctions against Iran. Arab states such as Jordan and Egypt are said to have promised Tehran that they would immediately normalize bilateral relations if Iran refrained from retaliation.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his former defence minister Sergei Shoigu to Iran for talks amid the growing fears of spiralling violence in the Middle East.
Shoigu, who is now secretary of the Russian National Security Council, arrived in Tehran to discuss regional and international security issues, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.
Shoigu plans to meet with two senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ali-Akbar Ahmadian and Mohammad Bagheri, according to reports. A reception by the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is also planned.
