US-Iran War: Iran-US Pause Attacks After Escalation | WION News

At our focus this hour, there is relative calm in West Asia after Iran and the United States paused military strikes. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walsh told Fox News that while American forces remain locked and loaded, President Donald Trump is giving diplomacy and negotiations some room to move forward. He's giving it a little bit of room. We've had both Iman and Iran and a number of our other negotiators engaged at every level, from the most senior levels all the way down to the technical level over the past few weeks and particularly in the past few days. The U.S. refrained from launching strikes for a second consecutive night, while an Iranian military spokesperson said Tehran had also suspended retaliatory attacks against U.S. interests and allies in the region. The pause follows nearly two weeks of daily U.S. strikes and tit-for-tat attacks, which was seen as the largest rekindling of the almost five-month-old war since an April ceasefire. However, Trump has shared a series of AI-generated images on his Truth Social platform. The posts may signal that military activity will continue or even increase. One image shows the U.S. president standing on terminal. Iran continues to face mounting pressure along its southern coastline, where the U.S. maintains a naval blockade around the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media on Sunday said that an oil tanker exploded in Hormuz after colliding with a naval mine outside a navigation route designated by Iran. Meanwhile, Iran's allies in Yemen continue to disrupt shipping through the Red Sea. In the latest, the Houthi rebels say they have downed a Saudi drone over the northwest of Yemen, which is the day after claiming that it attacked oil facilities in the Gulf Kingdom. Footage released by the Houthis appear to show armed men approaching the burning wreckage of an aircraft. According to a maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy, commercial shipping traffic on Hormuz was at a three-week low, while traffic remained steady through the Bab al-Mandib. Despite the tension and the uncertainty, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Baghey, has said talks with the U.S. had made progress and even continued. However, if we look beyond the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear program, Lebanon remains another major point of contention. Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has said that preserving Lebanon's territorial integrity remains a key condition for ending the war. The timing of this statement is all the more important because Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is due at the White House on Tuesday and is expected to continue to take a tough line on Tehran, including its nuclear program. Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu warned Iran against any future attacks on Israel. If Iran attacks Israel, either directly or through proxies, either with ballistic missiles or UAVs or killer drones, it will make a terrible mistake because our response, Israel's response, will be very, very forceful. Well, to discuss more on this, joining us live from Mumbai is Advocate Ariel Awawakh, founder and chairman of the Sword of Gideon. Welcome to the broadcast, Mr. Awawakh. Let me just start with the big picture. We know Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel is ready to act more broadly. Those were his words, more broadly. We have seen the war expand already from Gaza to the West Bank, while settle of violence has once again come under the spotlight. So, Israel's argument has often been that every new front is driven by security concerns. But when does the security front end? Where does Israel draw the line? Thank you for having me. So, first of all, we see Iran attacking all the Gulf countries but skipping Israel, and there's a reason for that. Iran is definitely deterred by Israel, so we don't buy any threats that Iran is making. And as Prime Minister Netanyahu mentioned, not only direct attacks from Iran will be severely answered, even through its proxies. This is a new thing, and I'm not sure many people have noticed that specific statement that the proxies, so if we get hit from the Houthis, it appears that Israel is willing to attack Iran directly if we get hit by any of its proxies. Regarding the so-called settler violence, and the reason I'm mentioning it as so-called settler violence is because this is a reframing of a bigger issue. Obviously, in any population, you have the edges. So, of course, every violence coming from all sides should be treated equally, should be handled immediately, but there is no such thing as the settler violence because this is generalizing the entire population that lives in Judea and Samaria. Obviously, these people are not violent. We're talking about more than 400,000 people who are observing Jews, who serve in the army, and so trying to map them all as settler violence is a reframing that the other side is trying to do, and obviously, it's an incorrect way of presenting the situation. We know that there is an ideology against the State of Israel. That ideology is to try to destroy the State of Israel, whether from the outside by our enemies, or whether to influence inside forces as well. So, to end this thing, I just want to summarize and say, even battles through seven fronts as Israel has faced, this is something we're accustomed to, and we will keep on heading forward with that. Mr. Avrabak, your point is taken, but I would also like to look beyond the war zone now. This war has reshaped the entire region, disrupted it even, yet Israel's economy has shown remarkable resilience. I'm sure you agree to that. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has hit record highs. Defense exports have reached record levels. Has Israel gained from this war? So, this is remarkable, what you just mentioned. I'm not sure many people understand how remarkable is the stock market and the economy of Israel is at its best, at its peak that it has been in many, many years, and when you think about the fact that we are not just engaged in war, we are engaged in a seven-front war, ongoing one, with the formation across the whole world, and yet the economy is blooming. You have to stop and grasp your head and like, what is going on? How is this even possible? And I want to tell you that we obviously have many allies, one of which is India, and we see so many similarities between what's happening in Israel and India, and so our strategic goal is to strengthen the relationship with India, and a part of our growth of our economic strength is also to be able to cooperate with India. We saw the strategic cooperation agreement that has been signed between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and so we look forward to even having strengthened more our economy together with the help of India and support India as well. In your own similar struggles, which I have to say on a personal level, I find extremely similar to what's going on in Israel. Israel has, of course, always said its security shield, besides the Iron Dome, of course, is also the strength of its alliances. You've reiterated that. But diplomatic support isn't as unconditional as it once was, is it? Because the tone from some of Israel's closest allies has changed. Is this the most isolated Israel has been in recent history? So I don't think we are isolated. I think we have differences of opinion. Obviously, there are several leaders in the West who disagree with Israel's policy. But I think when you realize that many of them keep on purchasing weapons and other stuff from Israel, where the economic cooperations continue, you understand that Israel is an invaluable asset to the world. And specifically, when it comes to the East, I'm obviously focusing on India, and I see where this is heading. The strategic relationship and cooperation with India is what we focus obviously a lot on, as I think this will strengthen both countries' might. And you mentioned the Iron Dome previously. And so Israel also has supplied India with invaluable anti-rocket technology like the Barak 8. Those kind of cooperations is what makes Israel so strong. People, I think, around the world know how the Israelis are keen on reaching out for peace. But if someone attacks us, we are ruthless in our response. We will protect Israel no matter what the cost is. You spoke of narratives earlier, Mr. Avarok. I want to hear your insights on one of the most fraught debates of this war. Jewish groups, they say anti-Semitism has risen since October 2023. Pro-Palestinian activists, they say that legitimate criticism of Israel is being mislabeled as hate. How do you think we define that line? Who's responsible here? It's actually simpler than we think. So criticism of Israel is obviously something that is not only acceptable, it's actually welcome. And you can see criticism of Israel from within the Israelis. That is what democracy is all about. When we always say Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, it's because you hear the criticizing voices even from within Israel, which is not very likely from our neighboring countries. But what I want to mention in response to your question is anti-Semitism can be clearly seen when criticism is only against Israel. When no such criticism is applied towards any other country or state or situation in the world where you see repetitive bashing of Israel without any consideration to other horrific stuff in the world, you have to wonder where is this bias coming from? What is happening? And that's why when we see this, I would say hypocrisy, it's clear that it is rooted in ancient forms of anti-Semitism. We don't attack people who criticize us. We actually accept criticism very much. We want to get better. We want to hear what we can do differently. But when you see that type of harsh criticism, regardless of the situation, ignoring whatever happened on October 7th and basically tying, trying to tie Israel's hands by saying whatever people are saying against Israel, but they're aiming their attacks only against Israel, this is obviously rooted in ancient forms of anti-Semitism rather than objective criticism. And we have to know to differentiate between the two. Of course, Mr. Abu Bakr, there is October 7th, but there's also the recent West Asia War. Ultimately, after everything Israel has done militarily and diplomatically, what does victory look like? So, we have proven that we will strike mightily everyone who tries to hurt Israel. And I think our enemies understand this. At the beginning of the interview, I mentioned there's a reason why Iran is not shooting missiles currently against Israel. Although they keep on threatening, they don't do it, but they do send missiles to the Gulf countries. Deterrence is an important factor in the Middle East. But as always, Israel is reaching out its hand always to see what can be done and reach peaceful conditions with its neighboring countries. Whomever is hostile towards us and whomever attacks us will pay dearly. And we have to set the record straight. There is no tolerance to attacking Israel whatsoever. But you have to understand Israelis are a peace-seeking nation. We want peace. We want to prosper. So, you mentioned our economy earlier. Look at Israel blooming in the Middle East while surrounded by failing countries. And the reason is because so many countries are focused on destruction, on hate, whilst Israel is focused on prosperity, on cooperation. You have to wonder and ask yourself, which side do I want to be on? That is the question and that is our future as well. Of course, many questions remaining and this war has created questions that have no easy answers either. One can only hope that the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will yield some results that ultimately lead to peace. But yes, thank you so much for your perspective, Mr. Abubakar. It was a pleasure having you here.