Iran Says Israel Must Agree Gaza Truce to Calm Region

Bloomberg:  Iran’s president told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron the US and Europe must urge Israel to accept a truce in Gaza to reduce tensions in the Middle East.

Masoud Pezeshkian’s comments on a call with Macron on Wednesday hint at a diplomatic path to de-escalation as Israel braces for retaliation after the killing of a top Hamas leader in Tehran.

The call was the latest in a flurry of diplomatic activity by Western and Arab states to try to ensure Iran tempers its response. Israel has said it may react disproportionately to any attack from Iran or its proxy militia groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“If the US and Western countries really want to prevent war and insecurity in the region, they should convince this regime to stop the genocide and attacks in Gaza and accept a cease-fire,” Pezeshkian told Macron, a statement on Iran’s official government website said.

Macron, according to the French presidency, said Iran should not retaliate against Israel and warned that further violence would cause long-term damage to the prospects for regional stability.

The Islamic Republic, Hamas’s main backer, has repeatedly vowed to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, while saying it doesn’t want to spark a region-wide war. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.

Hezbollah, Iran’s main proxy militia group, has also threatened a major attack on Israel after the Israeli military killed a senior commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut just hours before Haniyeh died.

Hezbollah and Israel have already been exchanging fire regularly since October, when the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza.

“The only path forward is to bring about an immediate cease-fire that will help deescalate the regional situation and will save the region from the abyss of further conflict,” Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, told CNN on Wednesday. Safadi made a rare trip to Iran over the weekend as part of the coordinated efforts by the West and Arab states to lower tensions.

Hamas and Hezbollah are designated terrorist organizations by the US.

Hamas started the war when its fighters swarmed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostage. Israel’s subsequent offensive on Gaza has killed almost 40,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Palestinian territory.