ME teeters on brink of war

Iran says it has duty to punish Israel

MOSCOW/DUBAI:

A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian leaders, including the president and top security officials, as the Islamic Republic weighs its response to the killing of a Hamas leader.

Iran is not looking to escalate regional tensions but believes it needs to punish Israel to prevent further instability, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

"Iran seeks to establish stability in the region, but this will only come with punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against the adventurism of the Zionist regime (Israel)," Nasser Kanaani said, adding that action from Tehran was inevitable.

An emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation will be held on Wednesday at Iran's request to discuss the killing of Haniyeh and Iran's response, said Kanaani.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' top Commander Hossein Salami on Monday repeated the elite group's threat that Israel "will receive punishment in due time".

In a last-ditch effort at diplomacy, regional countries have reached out to Iran to try to calm tensions. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi flew to Tehran on Sunday, a rare trip for a top official from the US-allied monarchy. Separately, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatti called Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani to discuss the "unprecedented and very dangerous" regional escalation, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's security council, was shown by Russia's Zvezda television station meeting Rear Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior IRGC commander who serves as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Shoigu, who was Russia's defence minister before being moved to the security council in May, will also meet President Masoud Pezeshkian, Zvezda said.

"In Tehran, the secretary of the Russian Security Council is scheduled to meet with the president, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the head of the General Staff," according to Zvezda TV.