Tehran’s top diplomat in Damascus on Saturday threatened an “even stronger” response to any aggression, as Israel prepared its response to an Iranian missile attack earlier this week.
“Our response to any attack by the Zionist regime is absolutely clear,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in the Syrian capital, where he met top officials including President Bashar al-Assad, a Tehran ally.
“For every action there will be a proportionate and equal response from Iran, and an even stronger one,” he said.
He came after an Israeli military official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly that the military was “preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack” “.
Earlier in Damascus, Araghchi reiterated his call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Araghchi’s visit, his first since taking office in August, comes nearly a year after Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, starting the war in Gaza.
Iran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah has also joined the conflict and on September 23, Israel rapidly intensified its campaign against the terrorist group.
“The most important issue today is the ceasefire, especially in Lebanon and Gaza,” Araghchi said.
“Initiatives have been taken in this regard. Discussions have taken place and we are hopeful that it will be successful.”
Their meetings in Damascus followed a visit to Beirut on Friday, during which they expressed support “for a ceasefire in Gaza as well as a ceasefire acceptable to Hezbollah in Lebanon”.
Lebanon said he traveled to the Syrian capital by air after Israeli airstrikes on Friday cut off the main international highway linking the two countries.
Israel said the attack was aimed at stopping the flow of weapons to Hezbollah from neighboring Syria.
Iran has been a staunch ally of Assad during the civil war that erupted in 2011 following the suppression of anti-government protests.
Earlier on Saturday, Assad’s office quoted him as saying that Iran’s missile attack on Israel was “a strong response and taught the Zionist entity a lesson”.
The attack came just days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in south Beirut.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)