Iran, Hezbollah attack ‘could come Monday’ Antony Blinken warns G7

The US Secretary of State reportedly tells G7 counterparts a retaliatory strike on Israel could be carried out by Iran and Hezbollah on Monday as Iran says it ‘doesn’t care’ if it leads to wider war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly told counterparts from the G7 countries that a retaliatory strike on Israel could be carried out by Iran and its proxy Hezbollah on Monday US time (Tuesday AEST).

Mr Blinken gave the warning in a conference call with G7 leaders as he attempts to calm tensions in the region, the Axios website reports,

He has also emphasised the need to dial down the temperature in a call with Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani of Iraq, where some Iran-aligned groups targeted US troops earlier in the Gaza war.

However Iran has so far rejected US and Arab efforts to temper its response to the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s top political leader, as authorities were investigating the security breaches that led to the attack.

Iranian prosecutors said Saturday that they had opened a formal investigation into the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, which came hours after an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. The two attacks, following a rocket strike on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, escalated a recent cycle of violence and threatened to push the region to the brink of war.

Iranian leaders have vowed to retaliate. On Saturday, Iran told Arab diplomats it didn’t care if the response triggered a war, according to people familiar with the conversations.

The US asked European and other partner governments to convey a message to Iran not to escalate, warning any significant strike would draw a response and signalling that efforts by Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian to improve engagement with the West would have a better chance if Iran shows restraint, according to people involved in the discussions. The US also said, as a part of its message, that it was pressing Israel to de-escalate too.

Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, on Sunday visited Tehran to discuss ways to defuse tensions. During Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel in April, Jordan intercepted projectiles that had entered its airspace headed toward Israel. This time around it suggested it would do the same.

“Anyone who wants to violate our skies, we will face that,” Safadi said last week. “Jordan will not be a battlefield. We are exposed to many consequences.”

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian (R) meets Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi in Tehran. Picture: AFP.

Israel said it was prepared to defend against and respond to any retaliatory strike.

“Israel is now in a multifront war against the Iranian axis of evil,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. “We are ready for any scenario – either defensive or offensive. I repeat to our enemies: We will respond and exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us, from any arena.” The killing of Haniyeh in Tehran, who was there to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president was an embarrassing security failure for Iran. He was killed by a bomb while he was staying in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Iran and Hamas, which blame Israel for the attack, disputed that a bomb killed Haniyeh, saying he was struck by a missile. Israel hasn’t publicly commented on the killing.

Sadeq Rahimi, the deputy chief of Iran’s judiciary, said on Saturday that the country’s public prosecutor opened an investigation into Haniyeh’s death and issued an order to identify and arrest anyone who was either negligent or knowingly worked with Israel in the killing, according to the local Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Some security officials have already been questioned, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Whether Israel has used infiltratory elements, human agents and spies, or it has committed this crime directly are under investigation,” said Rahimi, according to Mehr news, also close to the IRGC.

Politicians in Tehran have said the attack exposed intelligence failures by Iran’s security agencies. “There are gaps and contaminations in the security-information system of the country,” said Ahmad Bakhshaish Ardestani, a member of the foreign-affairs and national-security commission in Iran’s parliament, to Iran’s Didban news site.

Israel has put its military on high alert, while US officials have worked to get military assets and regional partners ready to stop an attack that some fear could be broader and more complex than an Iranian assault in April.

“We are preparing for every possibility, just as we did in advance of April 13 when Iran attacked Israel and the United States and a coalition of our partners and allies worked with Israel to defeat that attack,” Jon Finer, US deputy national security adviser, told ABC News on Sunday.

In that attack, Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, but only after telegraphing its response to diplomats ahead of time and giving Israel and the US a chance to prepare. Ultimately, most of the projectiles were shot down before reaching Israel. But this time, Iran has refused to provide detailed warnings that would help mitigate the impact of any strike.

Separately on Sunday, Hamas claimed responsibility for a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Holon. The attacker killed two elderly people and injured two others, according to Magen David Adom, emergency rescue operators, and Wolfson Medical Center.

Dow Jones