Iran urges West to stop supporting Israel to ‘avoid war’

Tensions in the Middle East have increased following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday, August 7, urged Western countries to stop supporting Israel for “avoid” a regional war, amid fears of military escalation. The remarks follow the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.

“If the United States and Western countries want to avoid war and insecurity in the region, they should immediately stop selling weapons and supporting the Zionist regime.”Pezeshkian said in a conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, according to a statement from the Iranian presidency. According to him, these countries “support a regime that does not adhere to any international laws and regulations”.

Emmanuel Macron, for his part, urged his Iranian counterpart on Wednesday to “moving away from the logic of retaliation” and to “do everything” to avoid a “new military escalation” In the region. “Iran must also commit to calling on the destabilizing actors it supports to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid a conflagration.”, according to a report of the telephone conversation released by the Elysée.

Tensions in the Middle East have redoubled after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in the Iranian capital, blamed on Israel, but which has not commented on this attack. Iran and its allies, the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah, have promised to retaliate, raising serious concerns in the already explosive context of the war in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinian Islamist movement and Israel, which entered its eleventh month on Wednesday.