2024-04-17 03:39:05
The Israeli military has displayed a ballistic missile it claims was fired by Iran and retrieved from the Dead Sea. Tel Aviv has promised a response to the attack, but after five meetings of its military cabinet, it has not specified either what or when.
“We are not looking for escalation, but we need to send a very clear message to Iran not to do this again. To live under such a threat is unacceptable,” commented Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli army.
Israel has sent letters to more than 30 countries urging them to impose sanctions on Tehran’s missile program.
Iran also warned that it would retaliate against any attack on its interests.
“If the Israeli regime makes a mistake, this time the response will not be minimal, but immediate and harsh,” said Hossein Amirabdullahian, Iran’s foreign minister.
How to avoid escalation in the region – this is what the British Prime Minister and his Israeli counterpart will discuss over the phone. At the same time, the German foreign minister unexpectedly arrived in Tel Aviv, bTV reported.
And the low-cost airline Easyjet has canceled all its flights to and from Israel until the end of October.
And in Brussels, the foreign ministers of the countries in the European Union gather for a meeting. At this forum, Bulgaria is represented by our permanent secretary in our Foreign Ministry – Ivan Kondov, reported our correspondent Desislava Mincheva.
The extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers started around 18:00 and will give an indication of the position that the EU leaders will officially take at their meeting tomorrow in Brussels.
An appeal to “all parties to the conflict” for restraint is expected to avoid a further escalation of tensions. In short – Europe calls on Israel not to take a military response to the Iranian attack.
However, it is a completely separate question whether Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will take into account the position of the 27 countries in the union.
The member states are also united on another important issue – new sanctions against Iran.
Again, however, whether this will affect Tehran is a separate question, as European sanctions have been in place for decades and Iran continues its nuclear activities.
In this context, Lebanon is also of particular concern, because of the Islamic organization “Hezbollah”, supported by Iran, as well as because of over two million Syrian and Palestinian refugees there, who may cause a new migrant crisis in Europe.