PARIS: France’s President Emmanuel Macron urged his Iranian counterpart in a phone call Wednesday “to do everything to avoid a new military escalation” in the Middle East, the French presidency said.
“A new military escalation would be in no one’s interest, including Iran, and would lastingly harm regional stability,” Macron told Masoud Pezeshkian according to his office.
The French president called for an end to a “logic of reprisals” and for the “protection of civilian populations”.
Fears of a military escalation between Iran and Israel have surged following the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Palestinian group Hamas, in Tehran last week.
Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for the attack. Haniyeh was in the city for Pezeshkian’s inauguration ceremony, though Israel has not commented.
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Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has also threatened to retaliate after Israel said it killed one of its military commanders in Beirut just hours before the Tehran attack.
Hezbollah is the most prominent member of Iran-backed regional armed groups opposed to Israel and the United States.
The grouping also includes Hamas, Iraqi militias and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
“Iran should also commit to calling the destabilising actors that it supports to the greatest restraint to avoid a conflagration,” Macron said.
Pezeshkian earlier Wednesday called on the United States and other Western countries to halt their support for Israel.
Haniyeh’s killing came almost 10 months into an Israeli military offensive that has ravaged the Gaza Strip, and which was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel.
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