It was the arsonists themselves who warned that the fire would spread.

The Iranian drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles had only just taken off towards Israel, some of them had probably not even been launched yet, when the Islamic Republic’s mission to the United Nations in New York already issued a call for de-escalation: Iran had reacted to this Israel exercised its legitimate right of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter in a week-long Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus on Monday. Now “the matter can be considered over.” At least if “the Israeli regime” doesn’t make a “new mistake” and the USA stays out of it.

The pithy words only barely cover how tense the situation is in the Middle East.

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