A US-BASED organisation that represents Iranian Americans was among those urging the Biden administration to end its āfeckless approachā toward Israelās assault on the Gaza Strip and urgently work to prevent an all-out regional war following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The assassination, widely assumed to have been carried out by the Israeli military, ākilled immediate hopes of ending this war before it spirals into a regional conflagration that pulls in the United Statesā, Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement.
āHamas has engaged in many clear and disturbing violations of international law, including in the October 7th attacks, but the assassination of one of its prominent leaders and cease-fire negotiators in Iranās capital is a highly provocative act that tips the scales further in the direction of a bloody regional warā, Abdi continued.
āIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh off dissonant applause in the US Congress, must have felt a green light to engage in further reckless attacks to extend the war ā and extend his own political career that is widely believed will end if and when the war does.ā
Abdi called on the Biden administration ā which has backed Israelās war on Gaza with diplomatic support and weaponry ā to finally use its leverage to force the Israeli government to accept a cease-fire deal before the volatile situation descends into a full-blown military conflict potentially involving the US, Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other actors.
US president Joe Biden, Abdi argued, must āmake clear that a regional war is unacceptable and that military assistance to Israel will be leveraged to secure an end to the conflict.ā
The suspected Israeli killing of Haniyeh came hours after Israel launched an attack on the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing a senior Hezbollah commander and amplifying fears of a wider war.
Ali Khamenei, Iranās supreme leader, pledged āharsh punishmentā for Israel in the wake of Haniyehās assassination, which could further inflame tensions between the US and Iran, whose newly elected president was sworn in on Tuesday. Itās possible that Iran could retaliate against Israel in concert with Hezbollah and other allies in the region.
While US secretary of state Antony Blinken said that the Biden administration was ānot aware of or involved inā Haniyehās assassination, Iranās ambassador to the United Nations wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council that the killing ācould not have occurred without the authorisation and intelligence support of the US.ā
āThe Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right to self-defense, as enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, to respond decisively and promptlyā, the letter added.
Axios reported Wednesday that, internally, the Biden administration is āvery concernedā that Haniyehās assassination ācould derail negotiations over the Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal and increase the risk of a regional warā ā a concern that Middle East leaders also expressed.
The Biden administration has been warned repeatedly that its continued support for Israelās assault on Gaza has dramatically increased the likelihood of a broader regional war but has refused to cut off the flow of weapons.
In a televised address Wednesday, Netanyahu vowed to āexact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any frontā, but did not specifically mention the assassination of Haniyeh.
Phyllis Bennis, a fellow of the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, wrote in an op-ed that āthe US has made clear by its actions ā regardless of some politiciansā rhetorical support for ending the warāthat it is not prepared to do the one thing that would result in a permanent cease-fire: stop sending Israel the weapons that enable the war in Gaza.ā
āAll the talk about Washington and Tel Aviv supporting a cease-fire or wanting the hostages returned means little when a top negotiator on the other side can be assassinated with impunityā, Bennis continued.
āThe negotiations the Hamas leader was participating in will almost certainly be stalled, if not derailed entirely, as a result of Haniyehās killing. The resulting continuation of Israelās genocidal war in Gaza matches the goal of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has resisted cease-fire efforts and pledged to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed.ā
āThe likelihood of an expanding regional war is now exponentially higherā, Bennis added, āwith the danger of a much more direct conflict between Israel and Iran, and the possibility of even greater direct US involvement.ā
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Consortiumnews.com, August 1.ĢżĢżJake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.