Russia and Germany yesterday urged countries in the Middle East to show restraint, and Israel said it was preparing to "meet all its security needs" in a region on edge because of Iran's threat to attack Israel.
German airline Lufthansa, one of the only two Western carriers flying to Tehran, extended the suspension of flights to the Iranian capital, and Russia warned its citizens not to travel to the Middle East, Reuters reported.
Iran has vowed revenge for an April 1 airstrike on its embassy in Damascus that killed an Iranian general and six Iranian military officers, heightening tensions in a region already strained by the war in Gaza.
Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, but Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel "must be punished and will be punished" and that it was tantamount to an attack on Iranian territory.
"Iran's imperative to punish this perverted regime" could have been avoided if the UN Security Council had condemned the attack and brought the perpetrators to justice, Tehran's mission to the United Nations announced yesterday.
Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, immediately responded on the X Network, warning that "if Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is continuing the war in Gaza, but is conducting security preparations in other areas.
"Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are ready to meet all the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively," he said in comments released after a visit to an air base.
Conflict has spread across the Middle East since the Gaza war broke out, with Iran-backed groups siding with the Palestinians by launching attacks from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Tehran has avoided direct confrontation with Israel and the US, while declaring support for its allies.
Netanyahu said Israel was continuing the conflict in Gaza, but was preparing for scenarios in other areas
German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock urged her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdolahian to call for "maximum restraint" to avoid further escalation.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told citizens not to travel to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
"At this moment, it is very important that everyone remains restrained in order to avoid a complete destabilization of the situation in the region, which does not really exude stability and predictability," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference.
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Iran was threatening to launch a "significant attack on Israel" and told Netanyahu that "our commitment to Israel's security amid these threats from Iran and its proxies is firm."
US officials said the US could intervene to help Israel defend itself against an Iranian missile attack, which raises the possibility of a direct conflict not only between Iran and Israel, but also between Iran and the US, writes "The Guardian".
US officials told the Qatari media network Al Jazeera that the US believes that an Iranian retaliatory attack will happen soon, and that it will be carried out by Iran itself, not by proxy forces, the British newspaper reported.
The US also said its officials had called on regional foreign ministers to pressure Iran to show restraint.
U.S. officials have said the U.S. could intervene to help Israel defend against an Iranian missile attack, raising the possibility of direct conflict not only between Iran and Israel, but also between Iran and the U.S.
The Guardian reports that there is an open debate in Iran between diplomats and academics about the best response to what they see as psychological warfare. At one point it was reported that Iran was using the attack in Damascus to influence the US to pressure Netanyahu into agreeing to a full truce with Hamas.
"There is some skepticism in Tehran that an attack on Israel is necessarily imminent, and that Biden is actually trying to deflect attention from the fact that his supposedly decisive and firm phone conversation with Netanyahu last Thursday did not result in the flood of humanitarian aid to Gaza that US officials have demanded," it says "The Guardian".
Iran is the third largest oil producer in the OPEC group, and oil prices remained close to their highest levels in six months yesterday, Reuters reported.
Iran's news agency published an Arabic report on Platform X late Wednesday that said the airspace over Tehran was closed for military exercises, but later removed the report and denied that it had published such a news.
"Lufthansa" announced that it will probably not fly to Tehran before April 13. Austria's national airline said yesterday that it still plans to fly but will adjust the timing to avoid crew having to disembark for overnight stays.
Iranian airspace is also a key flight route for Emirates and Qatar Airways to Europe and North America.
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