Tehran, Jun 18 (AP) A top Iranian diplomat says his country will “respond strongly” to Israel's “aggression” and will do so likewise against the United States if US forces join the conflict between the rival Middle East powers as it moved into a sixth day on Wednesday.
Ali Bahreini, Iran's ambassador in Geneva, sought to project a defiant message from Tehran and defended its nuclear program as purely peaceful and designed for civilian use at a long-planned news conference with the United Nations press corps in the Swiss city.
US moving military aircraft to European bases
Overnight, the United States moved air force refuelling tankers and C17s to European bases in Prestwick, Scotland, and Aviano in Italy, according to Aurora Intel, a group that reviews open source information in real time in the Middle East.
This comes as the US is shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel from Iranian attacks as President Donald Trump warns Tehran to step back from the conflict.
On Tuesday, the US relocated a dozen F-16s from the Italian base to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, said the group.
Iranian FM spokesman issues warning
A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry issued a warning Wednesday that an American intervention in the ongoing Israeli strikes targeting his country would spark “an all-out war.”
Esmail Baghaei made the comments in an interview live on Al Jazeera English. It was his first in the ongoing conflict.
“I think any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region with very, very bad consequences for the whole international community,” Baghaei said.
Baghaei's comments suggested that Iran believes that Gulf Arab countries wouldn't allow the US to launch attacks from any bases in their countries.
However, the US has aircraft carriers and long-range bombers it could employ for any attack.
Asked if he thought the US could control Israel, Baghaei grimaced and said “Not really.”
China's Xi calls for de-escalation 'as soon as possible'
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East “as soon as possible” and said China is “deeply worried as Israel's military operation against Iran has caused a sudden escalation of tensions in the Middle East.”
Xi, on a visit to the Kazakh capital Astana late Tuesday, added that China “opposes any actions that infringe upon sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of other countries.”
He added that “China is ready to work with all parties to play a constructive role in restoring peace and stability in the Middle East.”
China has already called on all its nationals to leave Iran, with whom it has long maintained close trade and political ties.
First repatriation flights carrying stranded Israelis arrive in Tel Aviv
Two flights from Larnaca, Cyprus, landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport Wednesday morning, airport spokesperson Lisa Dvir said, marking the first flights to bring Israelis abroad back home since the Israel-Iran conflict began.
Footage showed the first plane gliding down the tarmac after landing in Tel Aviv.
Israel's minister of transportation, Miri Regev, greeted the captain in the airport's control tower.
“We are waiting for you here with great anticipation,” she told her in Hebrew. “Very excited, first rescue flight.”
Israel closed its airspace to commercial flights because of the multiple volleys of ballistic missiles launched toward the country each day by Iran.
Tens of thousands of Israelis are stranded abroad, according to Israeli media reports.
China tells its nationals to leave Iran
Chinese authorities are advising all their citizens still in Iran to leave as quickly as possible, citing the “increasing scale and intensity of the Iran-Israel conflict” and the possibility that land borders may soon be closed.
No figures on the number of Chinese nationals in the country were given in the notice issued online Tuesday by the Chinese embassy.
The two countries have long maintained strong trade ties, with China a major buyer of Iranian crude oil and Iran an importer of Chinese consumer goods.
Addresses were given in the notice for the Razi crossing with Turkey, the Nordooz crossing with Armenia, the Astara crossing with Azerbaijan and the Bajgiran crossing with Turkmenistan. (AP) SCY
SCY