Tehran promised to honor any Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal accepted by Hamas, but still intends to punish Israel, Iran’s Mission to the UN said in a statement on Friday.
“Our priority is to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza,” the mission said in a statement, according to multiple media reports.
“Any agreement accepted by Hamas will also be recognized by us,” it said.
The mission spoke out as the Middle East remains on high alert for a retaliatory attack by Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah to the twin assassinations last week of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has accepted responsibility for the former but not the latter.
“The Israeli regime has violated our national security and sovereignty through its recent act of terrorism,” the Iranian mission said, referring to the Haniyeh assassination.
“We have the legitimate right to self-defense – a matter totally unrelated to the Gaza ceasefire,” it said. “However, we hope that our response will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire.”
Iran’s Mission to the UN spoke out just one day after the United States, Qatar, and Egypt invited Israel and Hamas to hostage and Gaza ceasefire talks this coming Thursday in an attempt to finalize a three-phase hostage and ceasefire deal first unveiled by US President Joe Biden at the White House on May 31.
The US has also hoped that finalizing the deal would thwart Iranian and Hezbollah reprisal attacks, which it fears could spark a larger regional war that would scuttle any possibility of a deal.
“If [Iran] launches a major war in the Middle East with some massive attack on Israel, which they’re threatening, in coordination with other groups, well, that’s obviously going to significantly jeopardize any hope of getting a ceasefire in Gaza,” a senior US official told reporters on Thursday.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander Ali Fadavi confirmed Friday, however, that Iran was set to carry out an order by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to “harshly punish” Israel, according to Iranian agencies.
“The supreme leader’s orders regarding the harsh punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit... and they will be implemented in the best possible way,” he said, cited by Iranian media.
Asked by reporters to respond to Fadavi’s remarks, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US was ready to defend Israel with plenty of resources in the region, adding: “When we hear rhetoric like that, we’ve got to take it seriously, and we do.”
“The president is 100% committed to helping defend Israel and we have put military capabilities in the region of a sufficient quantity and in quality to do just that,” he said.
“But we’re also working at the same time in the diplomatic space to try to de-escalate the tensions and to prevent any major escalation of the conflict there in the region,” Kirby stated.
Will Israel receive the same support it did in April?
It’s presumed that the US seeks to reactivate the same coalition of five armies that defended Israel against a direct Iranian attack in April. This included: the US, Israel, Jordan, Great Britain, and France, with backup support from Saudi Arabia.
Jordan and Saudi Arabia are in the flight path of Iranian missiles and have asked that their air space remain neutral.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday night.
Blinken in that call “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and discussed how escalation is in no party’s interest,” the State Department said in a statement.
Biden on Thursday night, together with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar said that a Gaza ceasefire was long past due when they issued their invitation to Israel and Hamas to join them for talks, expected to be held either in Doha or Cairo.
Israel immediately said it would join the talks, while Qatar is expected to ensure that Hamas would attend, but as of Friday night, the Gaza-based group had not confirmed its participation.
Qatar and Egypt have been mediating the deal with the support of the US.
"No more time to waste"
In their joint statement on Thursday night, the three countries said, “There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It is time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement.”
“As mediators, if necessary, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties,” they stated.
If talks resume this coming Thursday, a US official told reporters that it’s likely they wouldn’t be concluded that day, as both Hamas and Israel have “firm positions” on about four or five issues.
“If you just look at them [those issues], they might be unbridgeable, but you treat each issue one by one, and with each one, there’s some trade space; you can kind of find a way forward,” the official said.
Failure to reach a deal, Kirby warned, endangers the hostages in Gaza.
“Every passing day is one more day that these hostages are in increasing danger and running the risk of additional lives [among them] being lost,” Kirby said.
“There’s a sense of urgency here,” he stressed, adding that the “onus” was on both Israel and Hamas to reach a deal.
Both sides have made amendments and changes to the agreement, he stated.
Israel and Hamas “have amended or added or detracted certain bits of detail, but “we’re extremely close”– and at this stage the discussion is about how to implement the deal,” Kirby said.
The gaps are “fairly small and achievable” and that is what the US wants to see happen, he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.