Western and Middle Eastern leaders urged Iran not to engage in escalations after Israel’s retaliatory strikes against it early on Saturday.
European leaders react
Germany’s chancellor has responded to Israel’s airstrikes on Iran early on Saturday, posting on X: “My message to Iran is clear: We cannot continue with massive reactions of escalation. This must end now.”
In a statement France’s foreign ministry urged “the parties to refrain from any escalation and action likely to aggravate the context of extreme tension prevailing in the region.”
British prime minister Keir Starmer urged “maximum restraint.”
Meanwhile, in Washington DC, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said the US was urging Iran “to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation.”
Israel said the airstrikes were a response to the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon it earlier in the month.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities that Iran used to make missiles fired at Israel as well as surface-to-air missile sites. There was no immediate indication that oil or missile sites were hit — strikes that would have marked a much more serious escalation — and Israel offered no immediate damage assessment.
In a statement the EU said:
“The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliations risks causing a further expansion of the regional conflict.”
“While acknowledging Israel’s right to self-defence, the EU calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an uncontrollable escalation, which is in no one’s interest.”
Regional leaders react
Saudi Arabia was one of multiple countries in the region condemning the strike, calling it a violation of Iran’s “sovereignty and a violation of international laws and norms.”
The kingdom’s foreign ministry said it rejected the escalation in the region and “the expansion of the conflict that threatens the security and stability of the countries and people of the region.”
The United Arab Emirates “strongly condemned” the strikes according to a statement put out by its foreign ministry.
Turkey meanwhile accused Israel of having “brought our region to the brink of a greater war” following its strikes on Iran.
“Putting an end to the terror created by Israel in the region has become a historic duty in terms of establishing international security and peace,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It also called on the international community to take “immediate action to enforce the law and stop the Netanyahu government.”
Iran-backed Hamas called the attack “an escalation targeting the region’s security and its people’s safety.”
But Israel’s opposition leader said the strikes on Iran didn’t go far enough.
Yair Lapid criticised the decision to avoid “strategic and economic targets” in the attack.
“We could and should have exacted a much heavier price from Iran,” Lapid wrote on X.
