Iran rejects European leaders’ call to refrain from any retaliatory attacks

Jerusalem: Iran rejected a call Tuesday by three European countries urging it to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions. Iran calls it an “excessive request.”

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany in a joint statement Monday asked Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliation for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iran has blamed Israel.

The European leaders also endorsed the latest push by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war. Talks are expected to resume Thursday. And they called for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its

October 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza.

After more than 10 months of fighting, the Palestinian death toll is nearing 40,000 in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there.

IIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a far-right minister who encouraged prayer at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site “deviated” from arrangements governing it.

The rare acknowledgement of a breach in the so-called status quo appeared to be an effort to reduce tensions as Israel braces for possible retaliation from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah over the targeted killing of two top militants last month.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

It is at the emotional heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and perceived encroachments have often sparked violence across the region.

Under a longstanding arrangement known as the status quo, Jews can visit the site but not pray there.

Jordan, which serves as custodian of the site and has long condemned Israel’s actions there, is expected to play a major role in defending Israel against any Iranian attack.

On Tuesday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined hundreds of Jews in visiting the site as they commemorated the destruction of the temples.

In a video released by his office, Ben-Gvir strolls with supporters and one yells out a Jewish prayer. Ben-Gvir says he has made “very large progress” in easing the rules against Jewish prayer there.

A statement by the prime minister’s office said “it is the government and the prime minister who determine policy on the Temple Mount.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site Tuesday, in a pilgrimage seen by Muslims as provocative as regional tensions soar.