Iran has decided to attack Israel, Foreign Minister Katz says

Iran has decided to attack Israel, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Monday amid an intense diplomatic push to avoid any further military action that could spark a direct war between the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state.

Iran’s message was delivered to Israel by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who called Katz to explain that he had received this information from acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri.

“Iran has informed us that it intends to attack Israel,” Katz said.

“The world should exact a price from Iran for any aggressive action it carries out,” he added.

In a conversation Bagheri held with his Bahraini counterpart, Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani, he spoke about his country’s determination to respond to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is widely presumed to have carried it out.

“Silence toward the expanding evil acts of the Zionist regime will be detrimental to the regional stability,” Bagheri wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that “indifference to its recent moves is tantamount to giving the regime an incentive.”

The United States said it believed an Iranian attack could come within the next 48 hours. There is a fear that Iran could coordinate its attack with its proxy groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and others in Syria and Iraq.

Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack last week that killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Biden set to meet with national security team 

US President Joe Biden was expected to meet Monday afternoon with his national security team to discuss the situation. US CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla visited Israel on Monday and met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi.

Gallant said the visit was “a direct translation of US support for Israel into action. The relationship between Israel and the United States is unshakable. We discussed the coordination of defense activities and ways to expand the international coalition facing aggressive actions by Iran and its proxies.”

In April, the United States, Israel, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and France defended Israel from a direct Iranian attack. Saudi Arabia lent tacit support to the coalition.

It is presumed that the US is attempting to coalesce the same five militaries even as it is scrambling to thwart an attack or at the very least limit its scope.

Saudi Arabia has said it would not allow Iranian missiles or drones to move through its airspace, according to media reports.

Jordan has said it wants its airspace to remain neutral, according to media reports. Biden and King Abdullah spoke Monday about regional tensions.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke to Qatari Prime Minister Al Thani and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty about the regional tensions. This followed conversations with his counterparts in the G7 countries and with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani on Sunday.

“The secretary has delivered a consistent message in all of these engagements,” US State Department Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Monday. “We are at a critical moment for the region. It is important that all parties take steps over the coming days to refrain from escalation and calm tensions.

“Escalation is in no one’s interest. It’s not in the interest of any one country. It’s not in the interest of the region, and it’s certainly not in the interest of the millions of civilians who just want to live their lives free from violence and conflict,” Miller said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said Tehran was determined to expand relations with its “strategic partner Russia,” Iranian state media reported.

Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, is visiting Iran and met with Pezeshkian and senior Iranian security officials as the Islamic Republic weighs its response to Haniyeh’s assassination.

“Russia is among the countries that have stood by the Iranian nation during difficult times,” Pezeshkian told Shoigu, Iranian state media reported.

Pezeshkian said shared positions between Iran and Russia “in promoting a multipolar world will certainly lead to greater global security and peace.”

Russia has condemned the killing of Haniyeh and has called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a wider regional war.

Pezeshkian said Israel’s “criminal actions” in Gaza and the assassination of Haniyeh “are clear examples of the violation of all international laws and regulations.”

Shoigu was Russia’s defense minister before being moved to the Security Council in May. He also met with R.-Adm. Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who serves as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Russia’s Zvezda television reported.

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to comment in public on the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, senior Russian officials have said those behind the killing of Haniyeh were seeking to scuttle any hope of peace in the Middle East and to draw the United States into military action.

Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and has said it is preparing to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the Islamic state.

Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, Reuters reported in February.

Regarding Shoigu’s talks in Tehran, Miller said the US had no expectations that Russia would play a productive role in easing Middle East tensions.

Reuters contributed to this report.