UN ‘very worried’ over potential escalation amid Iran-Israel rift

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN on Friday expressed deep worry over the heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.

"It's something he (Secretary-General Antonio Guterres) is following very closely. We're very worried about a potential escalation in a situation that seems to be escalating on a daily basis," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.

Noting that the UN does not have any "inside information on any potential military activities by any of the parties in the region," on behalf of the UN, Dujarric urged "to avoid any escalation and to work towards de-escalation of the tensions."

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.