‘Israel Makes Own Decisions’: Netanyahu Unaffected By Western Caution On Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conveyed to UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron that Israel would "make its own decisions" regarding its response to an Iranian attack. 

He said his government would "do everything necessary to defend itself" during talks the British government had hoped would help prevent escalation.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to retaliate against the missile and drone assault by Iran over the weekend.

Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem after the meeting with Netanyahu, David Cameron said  "We hope that anything Israel does is as limited and as targeted and as smart as possible." 

"It's in no one's interest that we see escalation and that is what we said very clearly to all the people I've been speaking to here in Israel."

After the meeting, the Israeli prime minister said: "I want to make it clear - we will make our own decisions, and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself."

The ongoing Gaza war between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas has led diplomats to seek ways to avoid direct war between Israel and Iran.

The latest round of tit-for-tat violence broke out on 1 April when Israel killed seven Iranian commanders, including two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) generals, in Iran's consulate in Damascus.

One of the side-effects of the Iranian assault has been to reduce some of the pressure on Israel to do more to improve humanitarian aid flows into Gaza.

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Iran says it has considered the matter closed but will retaliate again if Israel does. The Iranian missiles and drones launched on Saturday were mostly shot down by Israel and its allies and caused no deaths. Israel maintains that it must retaliate to preserve the credibility of its deterrents.

Washington said it is planning to impose new sanctions targeting Iran's missile and drone program in the coming days and expects its allies to follow suit. EU leaders are set to discuss sanctions at a summit in Brussels, with the issue also on the agenda at G7 talks in Italy.