Iran has no interest in ‘launching a direct attack against Israel’

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00:00We're going to bring in our international affairs editor, Philip Toll.

00:03Hi, Philip. As Ali was saying there, Iran has a much uglier option.

00:09It may be possibly looking at a less comfortable option there.

00:14What's the next course of action that could be expected of it?

00:17I think that Iran doesn't want to get involved in any major conflict in the region.

00:21Remember that Iran also has its vulnerabilities.

00:24You had Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in Iran, the Hamas leader, on a trip there.

00:31And I don't think that Iran really has any interest in trying to launch a direct attack

00:39against Israel or face the wrath of the United States in the event of a wider conflict in the

00:45region. I think what Iran would like to do and will try to do is to boost support,

00:52boost funding for its proxies in the region. There are several. The Houthis in Yemen.

00:59Of course, there are proxies in Iraq. There are also others in Syria.

01:06Hezbollah is its main proxy, which has been severely weakened as a result of the death of

01:11Hassan Nasrallah. But I think that is one of the ways that Iran will seek to retaliate against

01:17Israel without getting directly involved, because it really doesn't want to do that.

01:20It's got too much to lose in a direct war or direct conflict, either with Israel or

01:25even more with the United States, especially at a time when there is some kind of detente

01:30trying to be worked out between the US and Iran with a much more moderate leadership that's just

01:35taken power in Iran. So this is the wrong time to up the ante and to start a much more

01:41standoff relationship.

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