Iran Israel attack – latest: Israel military vows response as Western nations urge restraint

As fears mount over an escalation in the Middle East conflict following Saturday’s attack by Iran, author Dr David B Roberts explores the implications as a world waits on Israel’s response.

EasyJet’s decision to suspend flights to Israel until 27 October poses the question for other airlines operating to the country from the UK.

Wizz Air said it was resuming flights to Tel Aviv on Tuesday after cancelling services following Saturday’s attack by Iran. The company said it was monitoring the situation, and warned passengers of schedule changes.

British Airways said it was operating its service to Tel Aviv on Monday, but keeping the situation under review. Virgin Atlantic had already suspended flights until September.

The Independent has contacted airlines on future flights.

Budget airline easyJet on Tuesday suspended flights to Israel until 27 October citing the security situation in the Middle East.

“As a result of the continued evolving situation in Israel, easyJet has now taken the decision to suspend its flights to Tel Aviv for the remainder of the summer season,” a spokesperson said in a statement, after the airline on Sunday paused flights to the Israeli city.

“Customers booked to fly on this route up to this date are being offered options including a full refund.”

The company had only restarted flights from the UK in April, In January, the copmany said the Middle East crisis had cost it more than £40m in lost trading.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is preparing fresh sanctions on Iran in response to Iran‘s attack on Israel, according to a report by American news website Axios.

Yellen is reportedly preparing to tell fellow finance ministers on the International Monetary Fund that she will work with them on any action to disrupt the Iranian regime.

According to the report, she is set to say at a press conference: “Treasury will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.”

And will add: “The attack by Iran and its proxies underscores the importance of Treasury’s work to use our economic tools to counter Iran’s malign activity.”

The IMF meetings take place in Washington DC this week.

Her comments come despite Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, issuing a statement on Tuesday warning his country will respond to any action against its interests.

Israel‘s foreign minister said on Tuesday he was urging countries to place sanctions on Iran’s missile programme and proscribe its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel.

“Alongside the military response to the firing of missiles and drones, I am leading a diplomatic attack against Iran,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post.

Katz said he sent letters to 32 countries and spoke with numerous counterparts, calling on them to “place sanctions on Iran’s missile project and declare the Revolutionary Guard a terror organisation, as a way to stop and weaken Iran.”

“We must stop Iran now, before it will be too late.”

However, Home Office minister Laura Farris has said banning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could sever the UK’s direct diplomatic link with Tehran

She said: “We’re not for a second defending the IRGC. We’re simply saying that maintaining that channel with Tehran at this moment in time is, at present, in our national interest.”

To add to concerns over any escalation in the conflict in the Middle East, Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, issued a statement on Tuesday warning his country will respond to any action against its interests.

Speaking a day after Israel warned it will respond to Tehran’s weekend drone and missile attack, he said: “We categorically declare that the smallest action against Iranian interests will certainly be met with a severe, widespread and painful response against any perpetrator.

Israel’s military Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, said on Monday that Iran‘s attack on Israel – which was a retaliation after the April 1 bombing of the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus – warranted a response.

Banning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could sever the UK’s direct diplomatic link with Tehran, a minister warned.

Rishi Sunak has come under renewed pressure to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation following Iran’s missile and drone barrage aimed at Israel.

But minister Laura Farris suggested Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron wanted to maintain the ability to speak directly to Iran, something which could be jeopardised if the military force was banned.

The UK is keen to preserve diplomatic ties with Tehran to minimise the risk of a miscalculation in the Middle East which could ignite a wider war.

Mr Sunak is set to urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint in a call on Tuesday after the thwarting of the Iranian attack over the weekend.

Britain joined the US and other allies in shooting down Iranian attack drones on Saturday night, and has subsequently joined the US in urging calm in the region as the Israeli leader considers how to respond.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency director General Rafael Grossi was speaking to reporters in New York on Monday when he was asked about the threat to Iran’s nuclear facilities in the wake of speculations Israel will launch an attack in response to Saturday’s bombings.

Asked about the possibility of an Israel strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Grossi says “We are always concerned about this possibility.” He urges “extreme restraint.”

The facilities were closed on Sunday over “security considerstions”, but reopened on Monday.

Iran’s main nuclear facilities are regularly inspected by the IAEA, and when asked if the closure would impact activity, Mr Grossi said: “We are going to resume tomorrow [Tuesday]

“This has not had an impact on our inspection activity.”

US air force fighter jet squadrons as well as navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea participated in the effort to take out Iranian missiles and drones, the Pengaton said.

Navy destroyers USS Carney and USS Arleigh Burke shot down missiles from the sea.

Maj Gen Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said yesterday that some additional fighter squadrons were moved into the region before the weekend, and they remain there.

He, however, did not identify the countries where they were based.

The US will “stay in close consultation with our Israeli partners, as we have done throughout the weekend. Again, we don’t seek wider regional conflict,” he told reporters.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin held calls with counterparts in the Middle East and Europe, expressing support for Israel after attacks from Iran but also stressing regional stability to prevent conflict from spreading, the Pentagon said.

Mr Austin told his counterparts that “while the United States does not seek escalation, we will continue to defend Israel and US personnel”, according to the Pentagon.

In the call with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, Mr Austin expressed support for Israel’s defence and “reaffirmed the strategic goal of regional stability”.

“Whether or not Israel decides to retaliate against Iran is something for Israel to decide,” a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters yesterday.