Iran says European calls for restraint contrary to international law

Iran: Iran has rejected calls by France, Germany and the United Kingdom to withdraw its threat against Israel after the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement on Tuesday that the request “lacks political logic and contradicts the principles of international law” and that it is also “public and practical support” for Israel. He said the European countries “express no objection to Israel’s international crimes” and “asked Iran not to respond to the violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Kanani said Iran is determined to stop Israel and called on the three countries to “stand up once and for all against the war in Gaza and Israel’s warmongering”. Hamas has blamed Israel for the killing of Haniyeh on July 31 in Tehran, where he was attending the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Israeli government has made no claim of responsibility.
The attack on Haniyeh, which also killed his bodyguard, came after senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut, raising tensions in the region amid Israel’s war on Gaza that has killed nearly 40,000 people. “The inaction of the UN Security Council and the massive political and military support of Western governments to the Zionist regime [Israel] are the main factors behind the territorial expansion of the Gaza crisis,” Kanani said.