Scholz, Starmer urge Iran to prevent military escalation in Middle East

Iran dismisses calls

Agency reports

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday appealed to new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to prevent further military escalation in the Middle East.

Also, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has urged Iran to “refrain” from attacking Israel during a phone call with Iran’s new president

But Iran has dismissed calls from the UK and other Western countries to refrain from retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

“The spiral of violence in the Middle East must now be broken; anything else would pose an incalculable risk to the countries and people in the region,” Scholz told Pezeshkian according to a statement from the Chancellery.

Scholz spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend and also expressed concern about the danger of a regional war in the Middle East.

In his phone call with Pezeshkian, Scholz emphasized the need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages held by Hamas. “This would be an important contribution to regional de-escalation,” Scholz is said to have told the Iranian leader.

Fears of an all-out regional war have grown following the targeted killings of two leading figures, one from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the other from the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

Iran and Hezbollah announced they would undertake massive retaliatory strikes against Israel in response to the killings. The Israeli armed forces have been on high alert for days.

The United States, Israel’s most important ally, has brought additional warships and fighter jets to the region, further strengthening its presence there.

While urging Iran to “refrain” from attacking Israel, UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer hasn during a phone call with Iran’s new president told Masoud Pezeshkian there was a “serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration”, Downing Street said.

It is the first call between a UK prime minister and an Iranian president since March 2021 when former British leader Boris Johnson spoke to Hassan Rouhani.

News of the 30-minute discussion came as the UK issued a joint statement with the US, France, Italy and Germany – urging Iran to end its threats of an attack on Israel.

They called on Iran to “stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place”.

The leaders, who spoke together by phone, also expressed their support for the “defence of Israel against Iranian aggression and against attacks by Iran-backed terrorist groups”.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas political leader assassinated

However, Iran has dismissed calls from the UK and other Western countries to refrain from retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

Mr Pezeshkian said retaliation was a “way to stop crime” and Iran’s “legal right”, according to Iranian state media.

Israel, which did not say it was involved in Haniyeh’s assassination, has meanwhile put its military on its highest alert level.

The US has warned that it is preparing for “a significant set of attacks” by Iran or its proxies as soon as this week, and has built up its military presence in the Middle East to help defend Israel.

The powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon is also threatening to retaliate over Israel’s killing of one of its top commanders in an air strike in Beirut.

Fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East have been growing following the recent assassination of senior Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

On Sunday, the US confirmed it had sent a guided missile submarine to the region in response to these concerns. The submarine can carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are used to strike land targets.

It had also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which is carrying F-35C fighter jets, to accelerate its journey there. The ship was already on its way to replace another US ship in the region.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later said that the US shared Israel’s concerns that it was “increasingly likely that there will be an attack by Iran and or its proxies and perhaps in the coming days”.

“That is why we have been continually speaking to our Israeli counterparts and other counterparts in the region,” Mr Kirby added.

Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said that the country took the threats of its enemies seriously and that Israel was at “peak preparedness for attack and defence”.

Iran blames Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on their soil late last month and has vowed to punish it.

Israel, which is currently engaged in a war attempting to destroy Hamas in Gaza following the group’s deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October, has not commented but is widely believed to have been behind the killing.

Iran’s acting foreign minister said last week that the country would respond to the killing of Haniyeh at the “right time” in the “appropriate” manner.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of states with Muslim-majority populations, said it held Israel fully responsible for the attack, which it called “a serious infringement” of Iran’s sovereignty.

Ismail Haniyeh is not the only senior member of Hamas to be killed recently. Israel also recently announced that the group’s military chief Mohammed Deif was killed in an air strike in the Gaza Strip last month.

The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, with which Israel is also engaged in a conflict, has also said that it would retaliate for the death of its senior commander Fuad Shukr.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday became the latest leader to urge his country’s citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible, warning of the risk of growing tensions.

Airlines including Lufthansa, Swiss Air and EasyJet have either cancelled or suspended flights to the Middle East.

Credit: GNS/BBC