Iran Reiterates Its Resolve
Tehran to Punish Israel for Violating Its Sovereignty
On Monday 5 August, Iran reiterated its resolve to punish Israel for its violation of the country’s sovereignty by assassinating the political chief of Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas in Tehran. Iran claimed its retaliation against Israel is its right under international law.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told the media outlets in Tehran that there is no way Iran can be dissuaded from retaliating against Israeli aggression and Israel will be punished for its violations of his country’s sovereignty as per the international law.
Haniyeh was assassinated in an airstrike in Tehran on 31 July. He was visiting Tehran as an official guest for the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian who was elected in July. Pezeshkian’s oath taking ceremony was conducted on 30 July.
Claiming Iranian retaliation may lead to larger escalation in the region, several regional leaders have contacted Iranian leadership since the Haniyeh’s assassination trying to dissuade Iran from taking a retaliatory measure.
In a rare move, Jordanian foreign minister also visited Tehran on Sunday. This was the first such visit by a top Jordanian diplomat in the last two decades.
Jordan had allegedly intercepted some of the missiles launched by Iran in April following the killing of several officials of its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Corps (IRGC) in an Israeli missile attack on its consulate building in Damascus, Syria.
“Nobody is allowed to cast doubt on Iran’s legitimate right to retaliate and create deterrence,” Kanaani said. He claimed that while taking action against the aggressor Israel Iran would not be seeking escalation rather stability in the region. “Iran believes that stability [in the region] will be achieved with the punishment of the aggressor,” Kanaani said.
Kanaani also criticized the international organizations such as the UN Security Council which have failed to take any action against the repeated “crimes of the Zionist regime” and its violations of international law.
Last month, in an advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had called Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories illegal. Several other judgements have established Israel’s war in Gaza violates the genocide convention and constitutes war crimes without any repercussions for Israel. The UNSC has failed even to implement its own resolutions asking for a ceasefire in Gaza, or better humanitarian assistance in the region due to Israel’s refusal to accept them.
Kanaani expressed hope that countries in the region will take a much clearer position during the ministerial council of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which is set to meet on Wednesday in Jeddah to discuss the implications of Haniyeh’s assassination. The meeting is called at the behest of Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, while addressing a group of ambassadors in Tehran on Monday, accused Israel of deliberately seeking wars in the region.
“The Israeli regime’s terrorist action to assassinate martyr Haniyeh has taken aim at regional and international stability and security,” Kani claimed while observing that “Haniyeh’s cowardly assassination is a clear example of arbitrary killing and gross violation of human rights.”
Kani claimed that Haniyeh’s assassination is a part of Israel’s genocide campaign against the Palestinian people, particularly targeting its elite both inside and outside the occupied territories.
Kani reminded the ambassadors that what Israel did on 31 July was not an aberration but a fundamental policy of the “terrorist state” as it has been involved in a long list of assassinations in different countries in the last several decades.