In the thick of the rising spiral of violence in West Asia, CNN-News18 on Tuesday spoke to both the Iranian and Israeli ambassadors in Delhi on the prevailing situation between the two countries.
India has a huge diaspora in the region, which the two ambassadors assured to keep safe.
The Iranian side said their objectives have been achieved by exposing vulnerabilities in Israeli Invincibility and they don’t want further escalation.
“We wanted to send a serious message to Israel that Iran is serious about defending its security and national interest. We exposed Israel’s vulnerability, the Iron Dome propaganda, and invincibility. We wanted to prove that you cannot strike and escape. Any strike should be retaliated against. So Israel cannot destroy an Iranian consulate and escape,” Iranian ambassador Iraj Ilahi told CNN-News18.
Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon though said that the Iranian attack would not go unanswered.
“This 350-projectile attack by Iran and its proxies cannot go unanswered. We have to send a message to Iran that a price will have to be paid,” he said.
Israel has always been at war with Iranian proxies, Gilon said. Over the years, Iran has supported proxies through Houthi, Hezbollah, and others, he added.
Referring to Sunday’s Iranian attack, he said, “Support of the US to Israel is second to none. The success was a joint success. We have our technology that is unique in the world. Many countries support and help defend us. All the cruise missiles did zero damage; we sent aircraft also to shoot missiles down. Surface-to-surface missiles being tackled is encouraging. It’s still 99% though.”
Regarding the strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria, Gilon said, “Israel never took responsibility for that attack. There have been several claims from Iran that Israel has been killing people…Why did not they act in the past?”
Both ambassadors agreed that the tension has passed its peak and while the conflict and military alert remain in place, chances of an imminent full-blown war are over.
Iran and Israel both have strong ties with India. About 18,000 Indians live in Israel and more than 10,000 live in Iran as professionals, workers, caregivers, and students. Both Iran and Israel want to have more Indian connect. While the Israeli ambassador said that Indians in Israel are as safe as Israelis in the country, the Iranian envoy invited more Indians to visit Iran for studies or work.
“There are many Indians wishing to go to Israel. India’s advisory is there so it is stopped for now. We hope it will start again soon,” Ambassador Gilon said.
Israel has occupied the territory of Palestine, said Ambassador Ilahi. “Israel is killing innocent people. Israel is bombarding innocent people. Israel is demolishing the houses of Palestinians. So Palestinians are resisting this violation, this aggression,” he said. “Yes, we are supporting them, we do not deny this, we do not reject that. But why do we support Palestinians? Because they have lost their territory. They have lost their homeland.”
Ilahi spoke about the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel. “One also needs to talk about the root cause of these events,” he said. “No one talks about the seven decades of operation against Palestinians. Also, retaliation by Israel is not proportionate…I believe that without the support of the USA, without the cover of the USA, without the support of the UK, France, and other countries, Israel could not do anything.”
Gilon said that many Israelis are still in the captivity of Hamas. “133 people there, some dead some murdered, some abused, sexually harassed,” he said.
He also spoke about the issue of civilian casualties in Gaza. “Most infiltration of 30,000 is from Hamas. We have killed about 12,000 terrorists. Hamas wanted more civilian casualties. We tried to keep the civilian casualties in check,” Gilon said. “Killing of aid workers was by a mistake on our side; action is taken against people involved in the act. We don’t want humanitarian people dead. There is always pressure on Israel. People don’t like pictures of dead civilians and military on the other side. We are trying to minimise that. We evacuated about 200,000 people and we are now bringing them back slowly.”
The Iranian ambassador said Indian crew members detained after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized a cargo vessel for its links with Israel can leave whenever they want. He informed that there was a woman too in the Indian crew. They have not been arrested by Iranians and are held by the captain of the ship, he said.
Speaking on the issue, Gilon said, “Is it legitimate to do piracy? Even if it (the vessel) is owned by Israel, is it legitimate to take it away?”
Delhi and Tehran have been coordinating on the issue of Indian representatives meeting the crew.