Pakistan cautions Iran on ME tensions

Islamabad advises Tehran to tread carefully

ISLAMABAD:

As the world is bracing for Iran's potential reprisal attacks against Israel to avenge the assassination of top Hamas leader, Pakistan has cautioned Tehran about the danger of wider conflict.

Iran has promised a befitting response to Israel over the death of Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated last week in Tehran in a missile attack fired from short range.

Israel has not officially accepted the responsibility but Iran blamed the Jewish State for the "cowardly act," saying the attack would not go unpunished.

Iran's acting Foreign Minister told an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on Wednesday that Muslim countries must support Tehran's right to reply.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who attended the meeting, warned that make no mistake, if today it is Iran, tomorrow it could be another OIC country facing similar act of international terrorism, extra-territorial killing on its soil and cold-blooded violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"What Israel is doing, with unprecedented impunity and undeniable barbarity, is more than just adventurism, it is pure madness, it is akin to knowingly and deliberately throwing a light at a powder keg," Dar remarked.

The deputy Prime minister said we understood the determination of Iran and Palestinian people to respond to and avenge the provocative and criminal assassinations by Israel and the flagrant violation of international law.

However, he cautioned: "While such grave action must be avenged, we must not fulfill Netanyahu's design for a wider war."

The carefully worded speech was part of Pakistan's efforts to convey a message to Iran that its response to Israel's actions must take into consideration the larger implications.

Sources said Pakistan fears that Israel could use the possible Iranian attacks as an excuse to launch an all out attack against the neighboring country. It might push Israel's western allies particularly the US to join the conflict directly. Israel has long been seeking to go all out against Iran but the US and its other western allies never took the bail given the implication involved.

Against the backdrop of potential implications, sources said Pakistan was advising Iran to tread carefully and respond to the Israeli aggression accordingly.

Many analysts believe Iran, too, is aware of the ramifications but given Israel conducted a direct attack on its soil Tehran has to respond in order to appease its domestic audience and restore the deterrence. However, analysts think that Iran's response may be calculated in a bid not to provide any excuse to Israel for widening the conflict.