Russian President and Iranian ally Vladimir Putin has called on Tehran to avoid attacking civilians during its expected assault on the Jewish state over the assassination of the Hamas leader, according to senior Iranian sources.
As Tehran presses Moscow to deliver Russian-made Su-35 fighter jets on Monday, Kremlin security chief Sergei Shoigu conveyed a message from Putin asking Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to show restraint, sources told Reuters.
Moscow is the latest major power to urge Iran to offer a measured response to the death of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an alleged Israeli strike in Tehran last week.
Russia issued its warning during the process of delivering advanced air defense systems to Tehran in preparation for its retaliatory attack on Israel, According to the New York Times.
The Iranian Defense Ministry denied such reports.
While Putin criticized Haniyeh’s killing, describing it as a “very serious assassination” that threatens the stability of the Middle East, and also blamed the United States as Israel’s biggest ally, the Russian president stressed that the war in Gaza cannot be allowed to spread throughout the region.
Russia’s warning comes after the United States and Jordan expressed similar concerns, with Iran expected to face additional deterrence from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, an intergovernmental group of 57 member states.
Tehran called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday to discuss Haniyeh’s assassination and Iran’s response.
On Wednesday morning, officials from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a statement condemning the killing of Haniyeh on Iranian soil and Israel’s war in Gaza.
While officials avoided discussing an imminent Iranian attack on Israel, they argued that the OIC needed to “avoid the risk of a full-scale regional war that would undermine security and stability in the entire Middle East region.”
In addition to Iran, Hezbollah has vowed to launch a retaliatory attack against Israel in response to the killing of one of its top leaders, who was killed a day before Haniyeh’s death.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant warned that Hezbollah would pay a heavy price if its near-daily attacks against northern Israel escalated to the point of no return.
“It could escalate into war. It’s not theoretical, it’s real,” Galantz said during a military event on Wednesday.
with mail wires