CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour insisted Tuesday that Iran does not want conflict to escalate between itself and Israel, or the United States.
Amanpour made the statement during network coverage of Iran launching missile strikes into Israel in retaliation for the country’s airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon last week.
"Nobody, nobody - not the Lebanese nor the Iranians, want this to escalate even further. Iran does not want an Israeli or a U.S. war against it," Amanpour told CNN anchor Dana Bash on Tuesday morning, suggesting the current rocket barrage was calculated to prompt minimal response from Israeli forces.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said this barrage of hundreds of missiles is in retaliation for the killing of the terror group leader Nasrallah in Beirut last week, and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
The military group warned in a statement released by Iranian state media that if Israel responds to the missile barrage, "it will face crushing attacks."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had vowed to strike back in retaliation for Nasrallah's death, saying, "The blood of the martyr shall not go unavenged."
During her appearance on CNN, Amanpour reported that Iranian leaders have been trying to show restraint so they can avoid a larger war.
"It’s incredibly important to be absolutely precise about what’s going on. So far, there is no evidence that anything has landed, that it is being intercepted, according to our correspondents on the ground. And also, the United States and Israel said that they assessed that the targets would be three Israeli air bases, and an intelligence base," she began.
"That's very important to keep in mind," Amanpour said.
ISRAEL TARGETS HEZBOLLAH LEADER NASRALLAH IN STRIKE ON BEIRUT HEADQUARTERS
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed Tuesday that Israel’s forces did carry out "quite a few interceptions," and noted they’re "unaware of casualties." Still, he revealed that there were "some impacts in the center and areas in the south of the country."
About Iran and Lebanon’s perspective on this conflict, Amanpour continued, "The Iranian foreign minister told me in New York during the United Nations that they were showing – and this is again before Friday’s assassination – that they were showing restraint and that Hezbollah was showing restraint as well, and that it wanted, you know, to de-escalate all of this."
The correspondent noted that, prior to Nasrallah’s death, both countries felt they were "being entrapped and they’re trying to resist the notion of being trapped into this war."
"So then comes the assassination of their client, Hassan Nasrallah," she said, adding, "Hezbollah is meant to be the frontline troops of Iran. So this response from Iran is more likely because it feels it has been left no choice."
Despite Amanpour’s point that Iran and Lebanon don’t want things to escalate, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called the attack "a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event" in a White House briefing.
