Diplomats scramble to calm tensions as Israel weighs response to Iran attack: Live updates

Israel’s foreign minister on Tuesday said he’s leading a “diplomatic offensive” against Iran following Saturday’s unprecedented attack on Israel and amid global efforts to calm tensions between the two counties to prevent a wider war in the Middle East.

Israel Katz said in a social media post that he’s calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian missile project and that “the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be declared a terrorist organization” … “to curb and weaken Iran.” Katz’s efforts included sending letters to 32 countries and conversations with dozens of foreign ministers.

An Israeli soldier checks a mobile atop a tank in an army camp near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip on April 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

“Iran must be stopped now – before it is too late,” he said.

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Other diplomatic efforts were being carried out to calm tensions between the two foes on Tuesday. In Brussels, the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council was set to meet as was the foreign ministers for Germany and Jordan in Berlin.

On Tuesday, Israel’s War Cabinet was scheduled to meet for at least the third time in three days to weigh a response to Iran’s missile and drone blitz, which was launched over a suspected Israeli airstrike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria. The April 1 attack killed seven Iranian military officers.

President Joe Biden said that the U.S. – which along with Israel and Jordan intercepted hundreds of missiles and drones launched from Iran – will continue to defend its ally but will not be part of any retaliatory measure against Iran for Saturday’s attack.

Developments:

∎ The Israeli military, using tanks, killed “a number” of terrorists” in central Gaza along with military compounds, tunnels and a missile launcher, the military said on Telegram.

∎ Ruth Patir, the artist representing Israel at the Venice Biennale art fair, said she was refusing to open the national pavilion until a cease-fire and hostage deal was reached. “I feel that the time for art is lost,” Ruth Patir wrote in a statement on Instagram, explaining why she and the exhibits’ two curators had decided to shutter the show. “And so if I am given such a remarkable stage, I want to make it count.”

Hamas drops number of hostages it would free in latest truce plan

Hamas has dropped the number of hostages it says it will release during the initial phase of a temporary cease-fire from 40 to 20, CNN reported, citing an Israeli source and a senior Biden administration official.

The significant development in peace talks comes after Hamas told negotiators last week that it could not locate many of the 40 captives – female, elderly and sick hostages – that Israel sought to have released in an initial phase of a hostage deal. CNN reported that in the latest counterproposal, fewer than 20 hostages were offered by Hamas for a temporary cease-fire.

Israel had asked for the release of the 40 captives in exchange for the concession that Israel would allow 150,000 displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza without security checks – an agreement proposed by the U.S.

Iran says it will respond to any action ‘against its interests’

President Ebrahim Raisi said on Tuesday that Iran will respond to any action against its interests, Reuters reported, citing the Iranian Student News Agency.

“We categorically declare that the smallest action against Iranian interests will certainly be met with a severe, widespread and painful response against any perpetrator,” Raisi told the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

On Monday night, Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister, told state TV that Tehran’s response to any Israeli retaliation would happen in “a matter of seconds as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond.”

Contributing: Susan Miller, Jorge Ortiz, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diplomats scramble to calm tensions as Israel weighs response to Iran attack: Live updates