Russia and Jordan are calling for restraint in the Middle East amid expectations of an imminent Iranian attack on Israel following last week’s killing of a top Hamas leader in Tehran.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, called on “all parties concerned to show restraint in order to prevent catastrophic consequences for the entire Middle East,” in a statement released on Aug. 6 by the Russian Foreign Ministry, following a phone call between the two officials.
During the call, the ministers “exchanged views of ... the military and political situation in the Middle East with a focus on the need for a cease-fire in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the soonest de-escalation in the region,” the statement read.
On July 31, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, where he had gone to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Exactly how Haniyeh was killed remains unclear, and Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility.
One day earlier, an Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and closely aligned with Iran.
Tehran, Hamas, and Hezbollah have all vowed to retaliate for the killings.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry claimed that the perpetrators—who it did not name—were aware of the “dangerous consequences for the entire region.”
Jordan, too, expressed condemnation, describing the killing of Haniyeh on Iranian territory as a “violation of international and humanitarian law and an infringement on state sovereignty.”
Speaking on Aug. 4, Safadi called for “effective action to stop Israeli aggression on Gaza ... and prevent crimes against the Palestinian people in order to protect the entire region from the consequences of a regional war.”
Last October, the Hamas terrorist group carried out a deadly attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis.
Israel responded by launching a devastating military offensive against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis have been killed in the ongoing conflict, which has also drawn in Iran, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthi terrorist group.
The mounting violence has discomfited Jordan, a small Arab nation of 11 million people, more than half of whom are of Palestinian descent.
Long regarded as a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, Jordan shares borders with Israel, the West Bank, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
In 2004, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned of Iran’s steadily growing influence in the region, which he famously described as a “Shia Crescent” extending from Lebanon through Iraq to the Persian Gulf.
Rare Trip to Tehran
In a sign of Amman’s growing concern, Safadi paid a rare visit to Iran this week, where he urged his hosts to show restraint in the wake of Haniyeh’s assassination.“My visit to Iran is to consult on the serious escalation in the region and engage in a frank ... discussion about overcoming the differences between [our] two countries,” he said at a joint press briefing with his Iranian counterpart on Aug. 4.
According to Iranian media, Pezeshkian told the Jordanian diplomat that the killing of Haniyeh was a “major mistake” that would “not go unanswered.”
A day before Safadi’s trip, King Abdullah spoke by phone with U.S. President Joe Biden, to discuss international efforts to defuse the crisis.
“The president thanked his majesty for his friendship, and affirmed unwavering U.S. support for Jordan as a partner and ally in promoting regional peace and security,” the White House wrote.
In April, the Jordanian military helped intercept a drone and missile barrage that Iran had fired at Israel.
The attack, which caused limited damage, was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that leveled Iran’s embassy in Damascus and killed several Iranian military officials.
Asked if Jordan might play a similar role in the event of another Iranian barrage, U.S. State Department spokesman Mathew Miller was guarded.
“It’s important to continue to defend Israel against attacks, whether they come from Iran or whether they come from Iran’s proxies.
“We have conversations with our allies and partners about that, but I’m not going to detail those publicly.”
