Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
“Making threats and mounting pressure will not help to promote the de-escalation of the situation, but will only intensify and widen the conflict,” said foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun.
After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel launched its surprise air campaign last week, saying it aimed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran denies.
Iran has responded with multiple missile salvos. The Revolutionary Guards vowed Monday night the attacks would continue “without interruption until dawn”.
State television said the Tel Aviv headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was among the Guards’ targets.
G7 urges de-escalation
The escalation has derailed nuclear talks and stoked fears of broader conflict.
At least 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds wounded, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not issued an updated toll since then.
Netanyahu said Israel was “changing the face of the Middle East, and that can lead to radical changes inside Iran itself”.
Iran’s ISNA news agency quoted a medical official saying all doctors and nurses had their leave cancelled and were ordered to remain at medical centres.
International calls for calm have mounted.
At the G7 summit, leaders including Trump called Monday for “de-escalation” while stressing Israel had the right to defend itself.
“We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza”, G7 leaders said in a joint statement that also affirmed “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon”.
The United States and Iran had engaged in several rounds of indirect talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme in recent weeks, but Iran said after the start of Israel’s campaign that it would not negotiate while under attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that “absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue”.
“It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy,” he wrote on X.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
