By Athena Papakosta

Amid concerns, since April 1, about a possible retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes it clear from the Tel Nof air base that “whoever harms us, we will retaliate.”while underlining that “we are prepared to meet all the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively”.

At the same time, they emphasize that they are the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF), ready to defend the country and respond to an attack by Tehran against Israel. As the IDF representative commented, Daniel Hagari“an attack from Iranian soil would be clear evidence of Iranian intentions to escalate the situation in the Middle East and stop hiding behind their proxies.”

The message of solidarity in favor of Israel was preceded by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who reaffirmed that Washington’s “commitment” to Israel’s security in the face of threats from Iran and its allies remains unwavering” and added that ” we will do everything within our power to protect Israel’s security.”

For experts, Tehran’s response against Israel – which it blames for the deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus 12 days ago – is only a matter of time.

However, the United States, Israel’s strongest allyknow that an Iranian attack would be a major escalation in a long-running war which, so far, has been fought by proxies or attacks in third countries such as Lebanon and Syria.

According to US officials, Washington is trying to prevent Tehran from retaliating and, at the same time, turning the ongoing war in Gaza into a wider regional conflict that could drag Washington into it.

The Secretary of State of the United States, Anthony Blinken, has already spoken with his counterparts in China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and also in Europe in order, as the representative of the State Department, Matthew Miller, emphasized, to make it clear that “escalation is not for nobody’s interest’ thereby urging them to urge Iran not to escalate the conflict with Israel but to de-escalate.

The commander of the central military command is already in Israel US (Centcom) General Michael Eric Kurila to meet senior military officials as well as the Israeli Defense Minister Joab Gallant.

Alongside, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, had consultations with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Turkey, while he traveled to Syria and Damascus as well as Oman, which – as the British newspaper The Guardian notes in its relevant analysis, may be the country that could mediate with the United States. And according to the Reuters news agency, the Iranian foreign minister while in the capital Muscat explained that Tehran will not act hastily and will respond in a way that aims to avoid a serious escalation.

For its part, Moscow is calling for restraint so that, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained, there is no complete destabilization in the region, while the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is already calling on citizens to avoid traveling to the Middle East, and at the same time the Germany’s Lufthansa, one of two Western airlines flying directly to Tehran, suspended flights to and from Iran.