Iran dismisses Starmer’s plea not to launch attack on Israel

Chances of regional war increase as Tehran ignores calls for calm and Jerusalem says it will respond to any strike

Iran has dismissed calls from Sir Keir Starmer and other Western leaders to refrain from attacking Israel.
The Prime Minister and Olaf Sholtz, the German chancellor, spoke to Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, on Monday, expressing their concern about a regional war if Iran follows through on its threats to attack Israel directly.
The US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany called on Tehran to stand down in a joint letter.
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs, said: “The declaration by France, Germany and Britain, which raised no objection to international crimes of the Zionist regime, brazenly asks Iran to take no deterrent action against a regime which has violated its sovereignty.”
Mr Kanaani added that instead of issuing such demands, Western nations should “once and for all stand up against the war in Gaza and the warmongering of Israel”.
In the aftermath of the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, Mr Pezeshkian said Iran would “never give in to pressure, to sanctions and to bullying, and considers it has the right to respond”.
Israel’s Army Radio reported that Israel had conveyed messages to its allies warning that Jerusalem would strike Iran if it launched an attack.
“We take the declarations and statements of our enemies seriously. Therefore, we are prepared at peak readiness in offence and defence,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, said.
As Western leaders called on Iran and its proxies not to attack Israel, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, was due to arrive in the Middle East on Tuesday, according to Axios, a US news website.
Mr Blinken will reportedly visit Israel, Egypt and Qatar in what appears to be a last-ditch attempt to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Both the US and Israel assess that an attack from Iran might be imminent. “We share the same concerns and expectations that our Israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here. It could be this week,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, said on Monday.
Mr Kirby warned that the attack might be “significant”, but said that it was difficult to predict what it could look like.
“The president is confident that we have the capability available to us to help defend Israel should it come to that. Nobody wants to see it come to that,” he said.
According to the Washington Post, Iran has expressed fears that the US and Israel could strike sites used in its nuclear programme in any revenge attacks.
A source close to Hezbollah, briefed on communications between the Lebanese terror group and the Iranian regime, said there were concerns that US and Israeli retaliation could “essentially neutralise Iran’s nuclear deterrence.”