World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, are pushing Israel on Monday to “avoid an escalation” against Iran in the Middle East following the Islamic Republic’s attack on the country over the weekend.
Macron, speaking to French media BFMTV and RMC, said his country had carried out “interceptions” of some of the missiles Iran launched at Israel and that it will try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.”
“We have condemned, we have intervened, we will do everything to avoid an escalation, an inferno,” Macron added, noting that France will work to “isolate Iran, increase sanctions and find a path to peace in the region.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also called on Israel on Monday to “contribute to de-escalation” in the Middle East and that “Iran must stop this aggression.”
FRANCE, GERMANY URGE ITS CITIZENS TO DEPART IRAN, CANCEL FLIGHTS OVER INCREASED RISK OF MILITARY ESCALATION
The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept missiles fired from Iran into central Israel on Sunday, April 14. (AP/Tomer Neuberg)
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month that left 12 dead, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. Israel did not claim responsibility for the strike.
An Israeli military spokesman said 99% of Iran’s drones and missiles were intercepted.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks at the coffins of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were killed in an airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1. Khamenei, prior to Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend, had promised retaliation for the airstrike. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)
In an interview with the BBC, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said,”I think they’re perfectly justified to think they should respond because they have been attacked, but we are urging them as friends to think with head as well as heart, to be smart as well as tough,” according to Reuters.
“In many ways this has been a double defeat for Iran,” Cameron was also quoted saying to Sky News. “The attack was an almost total failure, and they revealed to the world that they are the malign influence in the region prepared to do this. So our hope is that there won’t be a retaliatory response.”
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to bring a spending package to the House floor this week that will provide more wartime aid for Israel.
Clockwise from top left: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron. World leaders are pushing Israel on Monday to show restraint following Iran’s attack on the country over the weekend. (Ludovic Marin/Kay Nietfeld/Isabel Infantes/dpa/Christophe Ena/AP/AFP/Getty Images)
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Bills that would ratchet up sanctions on Iran and condemn the Islamic Republic for the attack also are expected to be brought forward this week.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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