said on Monday that it was not actively seeking to escalate in the Middle East but that it has a “legal right to punish” for the in Tehran last week.
“Iran seeks to establish stability in the region, but this will only come with punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against the adventurism of the Zionist regime,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, using a term commonly deployed in Iranian government circles to describe the state of Israel.
Kanaani also called on the to end its backing for Israel and instead support the “punishment of the aggressor.”
Tehran blames the killing of Haniyeh, the late political leader of the Iranian-backed militant group in , on Israel, although Israel has not claimed responsibility.
Officials have, however, confirmed that it was an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) drone strike that killed commander Fuad Shukr on the outskirts of the capital Beirut, also last week.
Also on Monday, Iranian acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani summoned foreign ambassadors in Tehran to reiterate Iran’s will to strike back at Israel.
Tehran announced as well an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday, held at its request to discuss the killing of Haniyeh and Iran’s response.
Iran previously launched strikes against Israel in retaliation for what they said was an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria in April, in what was then an unprecedented move. Almost all of the weapons were intercepted by Israeli air defenses with support from an international coalition including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and .
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps’ top commander, Hossein Salami, on Monday repeated the elite unit’s threat that Israel “will receive punishment in due time.”
mf/rmt (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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