For US, seizure of Israeli ship is wrong but bombing of Iranian consulate is right

By Press TV Staff Writer

The hawks in Washington had no word of denunciation for the Israeli regime after it pounded the Iranian embassy’s consulate building in Damascus earlier this month in breach of international law.

A deliberate attack on a diplomatic facility is tantamount to an attack on that country’s soil, which violates the Vienna Convention of 1961. But Americans somehow find legitimacy in everything its proxy regime in Tel Aviv does, including the cold-blooded murder of more than 33,600 Palestinians in Gaza.

Naturally, Iran vowed a ‘decisive response’ to the regime’s foolhardy military adventure. Iranian foreign minister also rightly accused the Joe Biden administration of giving “green light” to the attack.

On Saturday, hours after Iran seized an Israeli container ship MSC Aries near the Strait of Hormuz and directed it to Iranian territorial waters, the United States and its allies quickly jumped to condemn it.

Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, called on Iran to “release the vessel and its international crew immediately.”

British defense secretary Grant Shapps also took to X to accuse Iran of “blatant violation of international law”, adding that London is “working with partners to prevent escalation” in the region.

The US and the UK, the two all-weather allies and biggest arms suppliers of the Israeli regime, have gone out of their way to defend the regime’s destabilizing behavior in the region, including attacks on consulates.

The two countries not only did not condemn the Israeli missile strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus but also came up with innovative theories to absolve the regime of its horrendous crimes.

They have particularly been unapologetic in their defense of the Israeli genocidal campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip, which has killed over 33,600 people since October 7 last year, 75 percent of them children and women, and spawned the worst humanitarian catastrophe in modern history.

A day before the Israeli ship was seized, British foreign secretary David Cameron called his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to “urge restraint” amid Iran’s promised retaliation.

IRGC seizes Israel-linked container ship in Strait of Hormuz

The special naval forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have seized MSC Aries container ship linked to Israel near the Strait of Hormuz, official news agency IRNA reports.

Cameron hasn’t bothered to urge the Israeli regime to exercise restraint in Gaza or the occupied West Bank. He hasn’t grilled Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime for attacking Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria.

White House on Saturday said Joe Biden was cutting short his weekend trip to Delaware to consult his national security team as the Iranian retaliation against Israel looms, looking imminent.

He could have done the same when the Israeli regime bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, or when it butchered children in Gaza, or when it targeted aid workers and journalists in the line of duty.

Pentagon said on Saturday that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli military affairs minister Yoav Gallant discussed "urgent regional threats" and "unwavering support" from the US. 

Biden's top national security advisor Jake Sullivan also spoke to his Israeli counterpart on Saturday, reiterating Washington’s “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel.”

Such statements attest to what Iran's top diplomat has said – the US giving the “green light” to Israel.

As Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei clearly and categorically emphasized in his Eid al-Fitr sermon, the apartheid regime in Tel Aviv made a “mistake” by attacking the Iranian consulate and it “must be and will be punished” for it.

The seizure of an Israeli-owned ship in the Strait of Hormuz is not the “definitive retaliation” that Iran’s political and military leadership has vowed. It cannot compensate for the blood of seven Iranian military officers, including a senior IRGC commander, or the destruction of its consulate building.

American media is already speculating that Iran will fire 100 drones and dozens of missiles at key Israeli military targets deep inside the occupied territories. Such reportage aims to deceive Americans.

Iran has already warned the US against supporting the Israeli regime. All American bases in the region could become legitimate targets and this time the result would be more than brain injuries.

Iran’s military capability is unquestionable. Iranian military today possesses a wide array of weapons arsenal, including long-range missiles that can decimate Israeli cities in no time.

The delay in execution must not be interpreted as indecision. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

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