As Iran seizes container ship, Israel warns of ‘consequences’ of escalation
U.S. announces decision to send more troops to the troubled region; Tehran official says Tel Aviv is in complete panic about the looming response to consulate strike in Syria; tensions flare in West Bank as missing Israeli teenager is found dead
srael warned on Saturday that Iran would suffer the “consequences for choosing to escalate the situation any further” as fears grew of wider conflict more than six months into Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The strong warning came after Iran seized a container ship linked to Israel in the Gulf, and the U.S. announced it was sending more troops to the troubled region.
The White House has repeatedly warned Tehran against carrying out a potentially imminent attack
Ion Israel in response to an air strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus earlier this month.
Tehran has vowed to avenge the April 1 strike — which killed 16 people, including two Iranian generals, and has been widely blamed on Israel — but has not specified how.
Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards seized a container ship “related” to Israel in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, which was now heading towards Iranian waters, state media reported.
Not long after the seizure was announced, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that “Iran will bear the consequences for choosing to escalate the situation any further”.
Terrified of response
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said that Israel was in “complete panic” over Tehran’s looming response.
“They don’t know what Iran wants to do, so they and their supporters are terrified,” senior adviser Yahya Rahim said.
The Gaza war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack against Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel teen found dead
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,686 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Tensions have also flared in the Israelioccupied West Bank, where a missing Israeli teenager was found dead on Saturday.
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