The foreign ministers of France and the United Kingdom are set to touch down in Tel Aviv on Friday in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Iran from dragging the Middle East into all-out war, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz is expected to use the summit with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné to promote new sanctions on Tehran and to urge the Europeans to declare Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization.
According to Jerusalem, they are also expected to discuss ongoing efforts to reach a hostage agreement with Hamas. U.S. President Joe Biden has stated he expects Iran to hold off an attack on Israel if a deal is reached.
Though London and Paris did not publicize the trip, Britain’s Sky News cited a diplomatic source confirming the talks, which the official described as “an attempt to prevent all-out war in the Middle East.”
Iran and its proxies have vowed to avenge both the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s so-called “political” bureau, and of Fuad Shukr, a senior member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council described by Israeli defense officials as the terror organization’s No. 2 man.
Tehran rejected calls on Tuesday from France, Germany and the United Kingdom to back down from its threat to launch an assault on Israel.
The three countries issued a joint statement on Monday urging the Iranian regime to refrain from attacking the Jewish state, which they warned would exacerbate tensions and jeopardize a ceasefire deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Without any objection to the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel], the E3 statement impudently requires Iran not to respond to a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Iran’s foreign ministry said.
Three senior Iranian officials told Reuters on Tuesday that only a Gaza ceasefire agreement can prevent an Iranian strike on Israel, with U.S. intelligence indicating that Tehran is not backing down from the threat.
Hamas has refused to send representatives to ceasefire talks, which are taking place in Qatar, though an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters that the terror group would be consulted after they conclude.