US fears direct Iran involvement as China says supports ‘just cause’ of Palestinians

Agencies | Washington                                       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The United States said yesterday it fears an escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas and the prospect of Iran getting directly involved as UN says one million displace in first week of war.

In another development yesterday, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing supports the "just cause of the Palestinian people in safeguarding their national rights”.

"The root cause... of the Palestine-Israel situation is that the Palestinian people's right to statehood has been set aside for a long time," Wang said in a call with Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday, according to an official Chinese readout.

"This historical injustice should end as soon as possible," Wang said, adding that "China will continue to stand on the side of peace and support the just cause of the Palestinian people in safeguarding their national rights."

Wang said in a call on Sunday with Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal bin Farhan that Israel's actions were now "beyond the scope of self-defence" and the Israeli government must "cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza".

"(Israel) should listen earnestly to the calls of the international community and the UN secretary general, and cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza," Wang added in a change from Beijing's earlier ambiguous statements on the conflict.

Yesterday, speaking on CBS, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border and added, "We can't rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way. We have to prepare for every possible contingency."

"That is a risk and that's a risk that we have been mindful of since the start," Sullivan said of the prospect of Iran getting involved in the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza last weekend.

"It's why the president moves so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean, to get aircraft into the Gulf, because he sent a very clear message to any state or any actor that would seek to exploit this situation," Sullivan added.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the deployment of the second aircraft carrier on Saturday "to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas's attack."

In the eastern Mediterranean the carrier USS Eisenhower and its accompanying ships will join the USS Gerald R. Ford, which was dispatched after the Hamas attack on October 7. John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, also said that the United States is concerned about a new front in the war opening on the Israeli border with Lebanon.