UNITED NATIONS — A United Nations Security Council meeting
on Yemen on Monday touched on the risk of escalation after Iran’s attack on
Israel. Diplomats are calling this “a particularly dangerous moment in the
Middle East,” as U.N. special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said.
“The need for broader regional de-escalation is acute,” he
added. “I share the secretary-general’s alarm about the very real danger of
regionwide escalation and his urging to all parties for maximum restraint.”
A U.N. Security Council emergency meeting Sunday to discuss
the attack ended without any action taken. “Now is the time to defuse and
de-escalate,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. “Now is the time
for maximum restraint.”
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
URGES RESTRAINT
LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says “all sides
must show restraint” to avoid a rising spiral of violence in the Middle East.
Sunak on Monday condemned Iran’s attack on Israel as “a
reckless and dangerous escalation.” He said he would speak to Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express the U.K.’s solidarity with Israel “and
to discuss how we can prevent further escalation.”
Britain is urging Israel to refrain from a retaliatory
strike. Sunak told lawmakers in the House of Commons that “we want to see
calmer heads prevail.” He said Israel’s security is “non-negotiable,” but added
that the conflict in Gaza must be brought to an end, and the world “must invest
more deeply in the two-state solution.”
IRAN’S BALLISTIC MISSILES
WASHINGTON — Iran had about 150 ballistic missiles capable
of reaching Israel from Iranian territory, and appears to have used up most of
that current stockpile in its weekend attack, retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the
former head of U.S. CENTCOM said Monday.
McKenzie discussed the attack in a panel discussion with
the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a Washington-based think
tank.
McKenzie argued that Iran’s expenditure of those 150
long-range missiles, out of a total ballistic missile stockpile of about 3,000,
showed that Iran’s barrage on Israel “was a maximum effort. It was an
indiscriminate effort.”
The U.S. and its partners in the region are easily able to
track when Iran brings its ballistic missiles out of storage and positions them
on launch pads, he said.
When Iran launches, deep space sensors detect that
immediately, he said. Radars in the region then catch when any missiles break
the radar plane, he said. Especially given the distance involved, “it is hard
for Iran to generate a bolt from the blue against Israel,” McKenzie said.
RUSSIA IS ‘EXTREMELY
CONCERNED’
MOSCOW -- The Kremlin is “extremely concerned” about the
situation in the Middle East, its spokesman said Monday. Dmitry Peskov told his
daily conference call with reporters that Moscow urges “all countries in the
region to show restraint.”
“Further escalation is in no one’s interests. Therefore, of
course, we advocate that all disagreements be resolved exclusively by political
and diplomatic methods,” Peskov said.
AP News
Iran has warned Israel of a larger attack should it retaliate against its drone and missile assault, adding that U.S. bases would be targeted if Washington supports Israel in any military operation against Tehran.
ReplyDeleteIran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel late on Saturday, in response to an April 1 strike widely blamed on Israel on an Iranian consular building in Damascus, Syria, that killed 12 people, including two senior Iranian generals.
U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. forces helped Israel down "nearly all" the drones and missiles He said he would convene a meeting of allies on Sunday "to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran's brazen attack."
Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, told state television that Iran's response "will be much larger than tonight's military action if Israel retaliates against Iran."
Bagheri said that Tehran has communicated to the U.S. through the Swiss Embassy, which handles U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of diplomatic relations, that any backing of Israeli retaliation against Iran would result in U.S. regional bases being targeted.
"If the U.S. participates in the next aggressive actions by [Israel] through the bases it has in the [Middle East] region or the military facilities it has in the region and this information is confirmed for us, its bases in the region will not be safe," he said.