Israel vows response to Iran attack despite restraint calls

Katz asks 32 countries to ban Iranian guards, impose missile sanctions

Israelis awaited word yesterday on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack as international pressure for restraint grew amid fears of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran’s missile and drone attack, a government source said.

While the attack caused no deaths and little damage, thanks to the air defences of Israel and its allies, it has increased fears of open war between the long-time foes.

Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said on Monday “this launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles and drones into Israeli territory will be met with a response”.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV on Monday night Tehran’s response to any Israeli retaliation would be in “a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait another 12 days to respond”.

But the prospect of Israeli retaliation has alarmed many Iranians already enduring economic pain and tighter social and political controls since protests in 2022-2023.

Iran launched the attack in retaliation for an air strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 attributed to Israel, and signalled that it did not seek further escalation.

US President Joe Biden told Netanyahu at the weekend that the US, which helped Israel blunt the Iranian attack, would not participate in an Israeli counterstrike.

Since the war in Gaza began in October, clashes have erupted between Israel and Iranaligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Israel said yesterday four of its soldiers were wounded hundreds of metres inside Lebanese territory overnight, the first known Israeli ground penetration into Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted, though it has traded fire with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

“We’re on the edge of the cliff and we have to move away from it,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, told Spanish radio station Onda Cero.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British foreign secretary David Cameron made similar appeals, as the US and UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres also called for restraint.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby declined to say if Biden had urged Netanyahu in talks on Saturday night to exercise restraint in responding to Iran.

“We don’t want to see a war with Iran. We don’t want to see a regional conflict,” Kirby told a briefing on Monday, adding it was for Israel to decide whether and how to respond.

Foreign minister Israel Katz said he was leading a “diplomatic attack” alongside Israel’s military response, writing to 32 countries to put sanctions on Iran’s missile programme and proscribe its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said Iran’s actions threatened Middle East stability and economic spillovers.

The US would use sanctions, and work with allies, to keep disrupting Iran’s “malign and destabilising activity”.

However, some analysts said the Biden administration was unlikely to seek to sharpen sanctions on Iran’s oil exports due to worries about boosting oil prices and angering China.

Iran’s retaliatory attack, involving more than 300 missiles and drones, caused modest damage in Israel and wounded a seven-year-old girl.

Most missiles and drones were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and with help from the US, Britain, France and Jordan.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Group of Seven major democracies were working on a package of co-ordinated measures against Iran.

Italy, which holds the rotating G7 presidency, said it was open to new sanctions.

Iran’s attack prompted at least a dozen airlines to cancel or reroute flights, with Europe’s aviation regulator still advising caution.