The Middle East is on edge following days of media hype about Iran’s plans to retaliate the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. An emergency meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers was held in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as Iran mulls its response.
China's Foreign Minister, in a telephone conversation with his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts, warned that any retaliation in the Middle East would intensify violence and conflicts, according to local media.
Iran's IRGC Chief-Commander Hossein Salami, in a message, congratulated Yahya Sinwar on his appointment as the head of Hamas' political bureau and expressed hope that under Sinwar's leadership, Israel will "soon be uprooted from the holy land of Palestine."
"As always, we will spare no effort in helping you and other steadfast fighters," he added.
The IRGC- affiliated Sabereen News agency said Iran is holding "military exercises" in western Iran. "The sounds heard in western Iran are due to military exercises and they will continue until around 7am (local time," the Telegram channel said.
A comparison of flight operations on August 5 and August 8 at 03:30am (Tehran time) or 00:00 (GMT) shows the airspace of western Iran and Iraq has been almost completely cleared, as the region braces for Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel.
Egypt had earlier issued a NOTAM telling pilots to avoid Iran’s airspace on Thursday from 0100 to 0400 GMT.
Israel told the U.S. that if Hezbollah harms Israeli civilians as part of its retaliation for the assassination of its top military commander, the Israel Defense Force's (IDF) response would be 'disproportionate,' two Israeli officials told Axios.
The US CENTCOM says its forces “successfully destroyed two Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicles, one Houthi ground control station, and three Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen” over the past 24 hours.
Hezbollah looks increasingly like it may strike Israel independent of whatever Iran may intend to do, CNN reporter citing two sources familiar with the intelligence.
“The Lebanon-based militant group is moving faster than Iran in its planning and is looking to strike Israel in the coming days,” the report said citing one of the sources. Iran, meanwhile, appears to still be working out how it plans to respond, multiple officials have told CNN.
Many are left wondering could the Egyptian warning to pilots against using Iran’s airspace early Thursday be the window that Iran will use to retaliate against Israel.
Experts advise caution on reaching conclusions just yet. The answer, they said, is not a simple yes or no, but rather a myriad of reasons.
"No one has a clear sense of Iran's timing for a response," Bessma Momani, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada, told Iran International.
Momani said it would be be highly unusual for Iran to share information of a potential strike on Israel with Egypt.
"Regional actors are trying to get prepared and to signal their preparedness but I doubt Egypt would be privy to any information on when or if Iran and its allies plan on responding to Israel with a military attack," she added.
"Cordial but not warm," is how Momani described Egypt-Iran relations.
Tehran’s “priority is to punish the aggressors” responsible for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and “to prevent the repetition of terrorist attacks by the Israeli regime,” Iran’s UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani told Al Jazeera, in reaction to reports that Iran might be reconsidering its plan to attack Israel.
The French president Emmanuel Macron told Israeli prime minister to avoid a cycle of retaliation, following a similar conversation with the Iranian president Wednesday.
Macron told Netanyahu the "logic of de-escalation "should apply to all parties in the region," according to the official report of the phone conversation.
He also reiterated that France's "absolute urgency" is an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, as well as delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.