Iran has dismissed calls from the UK and other Western countries to refrain from retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, the BBC reports.
Amid a flurry of international diplomacy to de-escalate tensions, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to “stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack” in a rare telephone conversation on Monday.
But Mr Pezeshkian said retaliation was a “way to stop crime” and Iran’s “legal right,” according to Iranian state media.
Israel, which did not say it was involved in Haniyeh’s assassination, has meanwhile put its military on its highest alert level.
The US has warned that it is preparing for “a significant set of attacks” by Iran or its proxies as soon as this week, and has built up its military presence in the Middle East to help defend Israel.
The powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon is also threatening to retaliate over Israel’s killing of one of its top commanders in an air strike in Beirut.
