The Vatican has appealed to the Iranian President not to launch an attack against Israel.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, telephoned President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week to express concern over what is happening in the Middle East. Vatican press director Matteo Bruni said the cardinal reiterated “the need to avoid in any way the widening of the very serious ongoing conflict and opting instead for dialogue, negotiation and peace."
It follows an escalation of tension in the region after Israel attacked and killed a senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran in July. He had been in the country for the inauguration of President Pezeshkian. The killing happened just hours after a top Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukr was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Pezeshkian has said the killing will “not go unanswered”.
Cardinal Parolin’s intervention comes a few days after the Pope said he was “following with great concern what is taking place in the Middle East, and I hope that the conflict, already terribly bloody and violent, will not spread even further." Pope Francis also called for an “immediate ceasefire on all fronts, starting with Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is dire and unsustainable."
Hamas has said it won’t attend ceasefire talks scheduled for Thursday, but would return to negotiations if there was a "clear commitment" from the Israeli government to approve a ceasefire proposal put forward by Hamas in July.
Christian journalist Paul Calvert who is based in Bethlehem told Premier it’s a difficult point in diplomacy because part of Iran’s culture “is not to lose face."
"Part of their culture is all about revenge as well," he said: "So I feel that they won't really be listening to leaders. One thing Christians should be praying about this Thursday is the ceasefire talks. Iran may delay something if they feel that the peace process is getting close, so maybe nothing is about to happen in the next day or two, because Iran is just watching to see what happens with the ceasefire deal. So we're just waiting, it’s a watching game at the moment.”