With tensions growing unprecedentedly between Israel and Iran following the assassination of Hamas chief Ismael Haniyeh, Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi arrived in Tehran this Sunday to hopefully prevent worst-case scenarios in the region.
Amid growing concerns over the possibility of an all-out war between Iran and Israel, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi arrived in Iran’s capital of Tehran this Sunday and held talks with Iranian officials.
Following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran last Wednesday who was attending the inauguration of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, tensions between Iran and Israel have sparked unprecedentedly to near-war levels.
Immediately after the incident, Iran and Hamas blamed the strike on Israel and vowed to retaliate. Israel, however, has declined so far to publicly accept responsibility for the assassination.
According to a report by Iran’s state media, Safadi “met and held consultations with acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri after landing in Tehran for a rare visit. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues.” Jordan, which borders Israel to the east, would likely be in the path of any Iranian attack against Israel.
The Jordanian foreign ministry also issued a statement on the rare visit and said Safadi delivered a message from King Abdullah II to the Iranian president on “the situation in the region and bilateral relations”. The king appealed “further international efforts to reach comprehensive calm and prevent a regional expansion of the conflict”, the statement said.
Safadi also insisted that “the tension in the region would end only with the cessation of the war in Gaza”. He further expressed to his Iranian counterpart Jordan’s condemnation of Haniyeh’s killing, calling it an “escalatory step” and urged for calm, fearing a regional war would have a “devastating impact on everyone.”
“We have begun an in-depth dialogue that we are completing now, within the consultation framework on how our position can be clear in condemning the crime committed, and in emphasizing the need to respect Iran’s sovereignty and international law, while at the same time protecting our region from catastrophic consequences,” he added.
‘No country can use Jordan’s airspace to start a war,’ Safadi asserted earlier
Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had also said early on last Thursday that his country “will defend its airspace from being violated and will not allow the country to be turned into a battlefield.”
In a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, Safadi asserted that “we must always be vigilant on the borders, and we will not allow anyone to turn Jordan into a battlefield.”
“We must protect our country and in the event of any escalation, our priority is to protect Jordan and Jordanians … anyone who wants to violate Jordan’s airspace will be confronted,” he also said.
These words sent a clear message to Israel that this time, there is no help from Jordan to deter Iran’s missiles and drones if they are launched towards Israel. Back in April, Jordan was one of the few countries that helped Tel Aviv deter Iran’s missiles and drones attacks against Israel. It was the first time Iran had ever targeted Israel’s soil directly in response to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, earlier the same month.
Will diplomacy prevail?
Safadi’s visit to Tehran follows continued diplomatic efforts by the United States and its allies including France, Britain, Italy, and Egypt to prevent further escalation between Iran and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has been moving the opposite path as he said this Sunday that Israel is at “a very high level” of preparedness for any scenario — “defensive and offensive”.
For its part, Iran said on Monday that it has the “legal right” to respond to Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran because what Israel did was a disregard to Iran’s sovereignty. “No one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime”, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a regular news conference, referring to Israel.
