British Foreign Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that it was clear Israel had made a decision to respond to Iran’s unprecedented weekend drone and missile attack and he hoped the retaliation would be carried out in a way that minimized escalation.
Cameron spoke to reporters in Israel after meeting President Isaac Herzog.
His trip coincided with a visit by his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. The pair were the first Western diplomats to visit Israel since Iran’s direct attack on the country over the weekend.
Their missions came as Western allies haggled with Israel over how to respond to Iran, which fired hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles at the country overnight Saturday-Sunday. While Israel has vowed to strike back at Iran, its allies are urging restraint to prevent an already tinderbox situation from exploding into a major regional war.
“It’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act,” Cameron said. “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible” and that is “smart as well as tough.”
“It’s right to show solidarity with Israel,” noted Cameron, who also called for G7 countries to impose sanctions on Iran. “What we want to see are coordinated sanctions against Iran,” he said, while accusing Tehran of being “behind so much of the malign activity in this region.”
“I think there’s more that we can do to show a united front,” he said of the G7, whose foreign ministers are meeting on the Italian island of Capri over the coming days.
Britain’s top diplomat further argued that Iran must be “given a clear unequivocal message” over its support for Palestinian terror group Hamas, its Lebanon-based ally Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, all backed by Iran.
“I hope that will happen at the meeting,” he added.
Asked about fears of a wider regional conflict, Cameron called the situation “very concerning.”
Cameron was scheduled for meetings with senior leaders and officials during his time in the region. They included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.
Following the talks with Cameron and Germany’s Baerbock, Herzog urged the international community to confront Iran.
“The whole world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat by the Iranian regime, which is seeking to undermine the stability of the whole region,” Herzog said in a statement issued by his office.
“Israel is unequivocal in its commitment to defending its people,” he added.
Katz, in his meetings with Cameron and Baerbock, urged them to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terror group.
“Iran and its proxies endanger regional and global stability. Now we have an opportunity to curb Iran,” he was quoted by his office as telling the envoys. “It’s time to call the Revolutionary Guards by their real name – a terrorist organization – and impose painful sanctions on Iran’s missile project.”
Baerbock did not immediately issue a statement, but a day earlier she called for new sanctions against Tehran. She is to participate in the G7 meetings.
“We will discuss how a further escalation with more and more violence can be prevented,” Baerbock said of her upcoming trip to Israel as she spoke in Berlin at a news conference Tuesday with her Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi. “Because what matters now is to put a stop to Iran without encouraging further escalation.”
Baerbock said she had noticed that a number of players at the European level had said they would take another look at extending an existing EU sanctions regime against Iran that targets drone production.
Baerbock had campaigned with France and other EU partners last autumn to extend the European Union sanctions regime.
“I hope that we can now finally take this step together as the EU,” she said.
Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, has been among the chorus of European and US leaders urging Israel to de-escalate tensions and not retaliate for Tehran’s attack, which was almost entirely repelled thanks to US and allied help.
The US said late Tuesday it would soon impose fresh sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program following the weekend assault, and that it expected its allies and partners to follow with parallel measures.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s announcement came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated punitive measures were in the works, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said his office was working on it.
“In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program” as well as the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian defense ministry, Sullivan said.
“We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions,” he added. “These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors.”
Iran launched more than 300 missiles, drones, and rockets at Israel over the weekend, in what it said was retaliation for a deadly strike on what Tehran claims as a consulate in Damascus that killed two of its army generals and several other officers. Nearly all of the projectiles fired at Israel were intercepted, and there was little damage.
Under Italy’s rotating stewardship, the G7 leaders are expected to issue a united call for Israel to exercise restraint.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he had spoken to his Israeli counterpart, Katz, on Tuesday and urged Israel to not only de-escalate any reaction to Iran’s attack but to refrain from a planned offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah amid the ongoing war with Hamas in the Palestinian enclave. Israel’s looming operation in the city faces major international concerns at the possibly large number of civilian casualties that would ensue.
“I reiterated this message and I believe that on the occasion of the G7 foreign ministers in Capri, tomorrow and Friday morning, a similar message will be sent,” Tajani told state-run RAI.