Israel vows ‘deadly’ Iran strike as Biden seeks restraint; Iranian lawmakers call for nuclear weapons
Israeli security cabinet meets; Netanyahu, Gallant to decide on timing of any action
Dubai: US President Joe Biden’s first call on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since August underscored his limited sway over Israel’s plans for a potential strike on Iran.
The fact that Biden and Netanyahu went about 50 days without speaking amid escalating tensions in the region highlights the deepening rift in their relationship and diverging objectives for the region. Biden is frustrated by Netanyahu’s dismissal of his advice and public rejection of efforts to ease regional tensions, officials say.
The Israeli security cabinet convened on Thursday night to strategise, with Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant set to decide on the timing of any action against Iran.
US officials are pushing for a measured response focused on military targets and new sanctions against Iran. “Our attack on Iran will be deadly, precise and above all surprising,” Gallant, defence minister, said on Wednesday. “They will not understand what happened and how it happened. They will see the results.”
Political concerns for US
There are political concerns for the US. Vice-President Kamala Harris is anxious to keep the conflict from draining support in battleground states ahead of the November 5 election. Netanyahu, who has openly touted his close relationship with Republican candidate Donald Trump though says he’s neutral, has shown little interest in helping her.
“Escalation in the region benefits Trump, which is also advantageous for Bibi, as it means not only four weeks of unrestrained action but potentially four years without American pressure,” Ali Vaez, Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg news agency, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
Call in Iran for nuclear weapons
With the prospect of Israeli retaliation, some Iranian hardliners want their government to revise its nuclear doctrine to pursue atomic weapons.
More than three dozen hardline lawmakers have submitted a letter to Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, urging it to revisit the Islamic republic’s nuclear doctrine, local media said on Wednesday.
The parliamentarians also called on supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, to reconsider his long-standing religious edict or fatwa banning nuclear weapons.
“Today, neither the international organisations nor... European countries or America can control the Zionist regime which commits crimes at will,” lawmaker Hassan Ali Akhalghi Amiri said, citing this as his reason for supporting the call.
Another lawmaker, Mohammad Reza Sabaghian, said “building nuclear weapons is Iran’s option to create deterrence”, according to the Ham Mihan daily.
On Tuesday, state media reported that parliament had received a bill on “the expansion of the country’s nuclear industry”, without elaborating.
The Islamic republic has maintained its policy against acquiring nuclear weapons, insisting its nuclear activities were entirely peaceful.
Message to the West
Iranian political commentator Maziar Khosravi said the lawmakers’ letter is “rather a strong message addressed to Western supporters” of Israel “so that they try to control” it.
Ultimately, he said, any decision to change Iran’s nuclear policy would rest with the supreme leader, and “is not linked to the will of the MPs”.
It is far from the first time that Iran has seen debate over whether it should revisit its nuclear doctrine.
Iran FM in Qatar
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Qatari counterpart in Doha. The wars were the subject of “important consultations” between Araghchi and his counterpart Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on social media platform X.
“It is only responsible for all states to maximise their efforts to shield our region against an imposed catastrophe by stopping genocide in Gaza and aggression on Lebanon,” he said after the talks.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said the pair “discussed the latest developments in the region, especially in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon”.
Sheikh Mohammed, also Qatar’s prime minister, communicated his country’s “full readiness to do everything possible to enhance security and stability at the regional and international levels”, it added.
On Wednesday, Araghchi was in Saudi Arabia where he met de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
Tehran had said the talks were aimed at providing “better conditions” for Palestinians and Lebanese under Israeli attacks.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian travelled to Qatar last week where he insisted Tehran was not looking for war with Israel but vowed a stronger response in the case of an Israeli retaliation for its missile attack.
28 killed in Gaza
While Israel has widened its military operations to Lebanon since last month, pounding Hezbollah strongholds around the country and battling militants near the border, it has also escalated its strikes on Gaza in recent days.
Rescuers in Gaza said Israel on Thursday conducted a deadly air strike on a school housing families displaced by the war, killing at lead 28 people..
In Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping force deployed in the south of the country accused Israel of “repeatedly” firing on its positions and wounding two of its members.
Another package of sanctions
In the coming days, the European Union is expected to finalize another package of sanctions against Iran for supplying Russia with missiles. Other allies of Israel are waiting to see its response before committing to new restrictions on Iran, some of the people said.
For all Netanyahu's disregard of the US, he did heed American warnings after Iran's April attack. He retaliated with a single, limited strike against an air-defence facility in Isfahan, Iran. That was after Biden had urged him to avoid a bigger assault and "take the win" after Iran's salvo was almost fully foiled.
"They'll probably go against the military-industrial complex in Iran, probably not against the nuclear power complex, and probably not against energy," retired US Navy Admiral James Stavridis, who is now a Bloomberg opinion columnist, told Bloomberg Radio on Wednesday. "I think there's about a one-in-four chance of a broader war in the Middle East that drags the US in. That's uncomfortably high, but I'd still bet against a big sweeping war in the Middle East."