Washington. The Biden administration is confident that Iran will attack Israel in the coming days. Local news website Axios has reported this news quoting American sources. It quoted three sources as saying that the US is preparing to help Israel in such a situation. The Iranian attack in retaliation for the killing of Ismail Haniya in Tehran could be similar to the attack carried out on April 13, but there is a high possibility of Lebanese Hezbollah being involved in it.
“But the (US) administration fears that under current circumstances it may be more difficult than four months ago to organise the same regional and international coalition that helped defend Israel from Iranian drones and missiles in April,” Adnkronos news agency reported.
US President Joe Biden, while speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Base, acknowledged that the killing of Ismail Haniya would not help efforts for a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza.
Biden spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and said he was deeply concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Middle East. “We have the basis for a ceasefire, it has to go ahead and they have to go ahead too,” the president urged again, referring to his phone call with Netanyahu.
Ismail Haniya will be buried in Qatar on Friday. The body of the Hamas political leader arrived in Doha from Iran on Thursday. According to Hamas and Qatar’s state media, the funeral prayers will be offered after Friday prayers at the National Mosque of Qatar, after which he will be buried in the city of Lusail.
Haniya and his bodyguard were killed in an airstrike blamed on Israel, raising the risk of a wider regional war. Haniya was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new President Massoud Pezeshkian. Associated Press photographs showed the Hamas leader sitting with leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad extremist group and Hezbollah, and Iranian media showed Haniya and Pezeshkian hugging.
Haniya had earlier met Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hours later, Haniya was killed in an airstrike that destroyed Haniya’s residence in Tehran. Iranian officials said the attack was being investigated but did not provide details.
Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Israel-Iran War
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 2, 2024, 22:16 IST