World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, are pushing Israel on Monday to ‘avoid an escalation’ against Iran in the Middle East following the Islamic Republic’s attack on the country over the weekend.
Macron, speaking to French media BFMTV and RMC, said his country had carried out ‘interceptions’ of some of the missiles Iran launched at Israel and that it will try to ‘convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating.’
‘We have condemned, we have intervened, we will do everything to avoid an escalation, an inferno,’ Macron added, noting that France will work to ‘isolate Iran, increase sanctions and find a path to peace in the region.’
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also called on Israel on Monday to ‘contribute to de-escalation’ in the Middle East and that ‘Iran must stop this aggression.’
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month that left 12 dead, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. Israel did not claim responsibility for the strike.
An Israeli military spokesman said 99% of Iran’s drones and missiles were intercepted.
In an interview with the BBC, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said,’I think they’re perfectly justified to think they should respond because they have been attacked, but we are urging them as friends to think with head as well as heart, to be smart as well as tough,’ according to Reuters.
‘In many ways this has been a double defeat for Iran,’ Cameron was also quoted saying to Sky News. ‘The attack was an almost total failure, and they revealed to the world that they are the malign influence in the region prepared to do this. So our hope is that there won’t be a retaliatory response.’
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to bring a spending package to the House floor this week that will provide more wartime aid for Israel.
Bills that would ratchet up sanctions on Iran and condemn the Islamic Republic for the attack also are expected to be brought forward this week.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard, Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
