Germany voices ‘great concern’ over escalating Israel-Iran tensions

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - Germany on Friday voiced “great concern” over the heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.

“The situation in the Middle East is currently extremely tense and we view it with great concern,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said at a press briefing in Berlin.

“We are preparing for all scenarios and yesterday the crisis team met at the Foreign Office with a particular focus on Iran and Israel,” he added.

Fischer reiterated the need to de-escalate the situation.

Berlin is doing “everything we can to contribute to de-escalation in order to prevent another serious military conflict from occurring,” he said.

On Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of a regional war during a phone conversation with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“These days, all diplomatic telephone lines are running hot to prevent regional escalation in the Middle East. Nobody can add any more fuel to the fire now. Really no one can have an interest in a conflagration with completely unforeseeable consequences,” Baerbock said at a news conference with her Chilean colleague Alberto van Klaveren.

“All actors in the region are called upon to act responsibly and exercise restraint. With this in mind, I spoke to my Iranian counterpart today,” she added.

Israel’s foreign minister threatened Wednesday that his country’s military would strike Iran directly if Tehran launched an attack from its territory against Israel.

His remarks came in the wake of heightened tensions between the rival powers in the aftermath of the killings of Iranian generals in a bombing at the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month.

“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” Israel Katz said in a post on X in both Farsi and Hebrew.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed to retaliate against the Jewish state over the attack on its consulate in Damascus.

Tehran holds Israel responsible for the strike that leveled the building, killing 12 people. Israel has not acknowledged its involvement, though it has been awaiting an Iranian response to the attack, a significant escalation in their long-running shadow war.

The strike killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard who led the group’s elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016. The 11 others who died included six Revolutionary Guard members, four Syrians and a Hezbollah militia member.