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As tensions rise in the Middle East, Iran’s attack threat to Israel was conveyed through Hungary, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.
“Iran has informed us that it intends to attack Israel,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told The Jerusalem Post this evening. According to the newspaper, intensive diplomatic efforts are underway to avoid a direct Israeli-Iranian war following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who was visiting Tehran for Iran’s new president to be sworn in.
The paper understands that, as Israel and Iran have no direct diplomatic relations, it was Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó who passed on Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bageri’s message to his Israeli counterpart.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden met with his national security advisers at the White House to discuss the escalation in the Middle East and the possibility of an attack on Iran, the president’s office said. According to the announcement, the meeting was attended by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who canceled her presidential campaign plans.
Iran is thought to have been responsible for an attack on Monday in Iraq that left five U.S. soldiers injured. The country has promised to seek retaliation to “punish the aggressor” and bring stability to the region.
