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**We Do Not Fear Escalation: Tehran Affirms “Our Response is Coming, But It Will Be Calculated”**
After Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah confirmed that the first round of their retaliatory response to the assassination of one of their top leaders, Fouad Shukr, has concluded, he revealed that Iran and the Houthis in Yemen will also respond in their own way.
Within hours, a deliberate Iranian response emerged.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that his country’s response to the assassination of the head of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on July 31 in Tehran, is inevitable. However, he clarified during a phone call with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, that “Iran’s reaction to the Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is decisive and will be calculated and measured.”
**”We Do Not Fear Escalation”**
He added that “Tehran does not fear escalation, but it does not seek it, unlike Israel,” as he put it.
Meanwhile, several Israeli and American officials have suggested that Hezbollah’s attacks, which occurred yesterday morning, Sunday, are merely the first round. They also believe that Iran has yet to retaliate for the assassination of Haniyeh, predicting that “the response will come, despite being delayed for several weeks, in the coming days or weeks,” according to the Axios website.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran yesterday that the strikes targeting Hezbollah were just the beginning, in an implicit message threatening further escalation.
It is noteworthy that Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized over the past weeks that their retaliatory response to Haniyeh’s assassination is inevitable.
However, many informed sources have indicated that Tehran does not seek to expand the conflict for several internal and external reasons, especially in light of the significant American military presence in the region. Additionally, Hezbollah and the Israeli side exchanged reassurances yesterday that the round of escalation had ended at this point, according to diplomatic sources revealed by Reuters.
Since late last month, international concerns have increased about the potential expansion of the conflict in the region between Israel on one side and Iran and its allies on the other, especially after the assassination of Haniyeh on July 31 and the assassination of Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukr in southern Beirut by an Israeli strike, with both Iranian officials and Hezbollah promising a painful response.
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By/radwa sherif ✏️✏️📚