After giving the United States ample time to consider, Iran did not hesitate to retaliate against Israel, and seeing that the situation in the Middle East was about to get out of control, the United States adopted China's proposal at an urgent juncture.
On the evening of the 13th local time, Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel from multiple directions, and the ground forces cooperated with the close attack, and even the "Iron Dome" was lost for a while. After the lightning retaliation, Iranian President Raisi issued a statement saying that it was both a deterrent and a humiliation of the enemy, and that the operation was over, but Iran would closely monitor Israel's follow-up movements, and if Israel dared to repeat it, Iran would take a decisive and "tougher" response.
Iran's warnings are not unreasonable, as the crimes committed by the Israeli army in Gaza over the past six months have long proven that this is a bottomless and reckless army. Sure enough, Israel's wartime cabinet has unanimously agreed to respond to Iran, according to the Times of Israel, on the afternoon of the 14th local time, Israel's wartime cabinet and senior security officials held a meeting in Tel Aviv, and cabinet members were in favor of hitting back Iran, but there are still differences on when to respond and how to initiate a response.
The U.S. attitude toward Iran's retaliation is very similar to that of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the U.S. side is not willing to turn its face because of Israel and the entire Middle East region, but the U.S. side cannot afford the price of Israel's defeat and let the entire Middle East region out of control, so the U.S. attitude and reaction to this matter are extremely contradictory.
On the night of Iran's missile and drone launches, U.S. President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make it clear that the U.S. does not support Israel's counterattack and will not participate in any retaliation against Iran. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also called Israeli Defense Minister Gallant the next day, stressing that the United States does not seek a conflict with Iran. But at the same time, the US side has made it clear that it will help defend Israel.
So far in the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it is clear that the United States has limited influence on Israel. After the Biden administration took office, the strategic focus of the United States shifted from the Middle East to great power competition, and Biden wanted to free up his hands to deal with China and Russia, so he decided to implement a strategic retrenchment in the Middle East. Before he took office, he said that he wanted to push Trump's Palestinian-Israeli policy back, and he also wanted to promote the implementation of the "two-state solution".
It is a pity that he ran into the new Israeli government, which can be called the "most right-wing government in Israel's history", and Biden's position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has a serious conflict of interest with the Israeli government, which has led to Israel increasingly challenging the authority of the United States, and a series of decisions such as the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and strategic contraction have made the United States' influence in the Middle East much less than before, and the left and right are staggered.
To make matters worse, China's "sudden rise" in the Middle East is compounded. Since China's successful mediation of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Middle East has realized that there is a new solution to the civil strife for many years, and the international community has also seen that the United States is not the only major power that can rely on. The global order is changing rapidly, China's diplomatic reputation is rising, the United States is stealing chickens and rice, the great power competition has not yet achieved results, and the Middle East base is about to be lost.
Following Israel's decision to respond, the G7 has convened an emergency video conference to announce its "strong condemnation" of Iran's actions, its "full solidarity" with Israel, and its consideration of imposing sanctions on Iran. On the eve of Iran's counterattack, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to ask China to intervene to persuade Iran.
China has repeatedly stressed in the UN Security Council and other public occasions that "countries with important influence" should play an active role in the parties concerned, and has also directly named the United States, demanding that the United States uphold a responsible attitude and follow the call of the international community to promote a ceasefire in Gaza. However, as the international community became more and more disgusted with Israel's inhumanity and the United States' cover-up, the US finally mentioned a "ceasefire" for the first time in the February draft resolution, and even did not oppose the ceasefire resolution at the end of March.
According to Politico News Network, the United States had repeatedly advised Israel to make a careful decision on whether to launch a counterattack in the week before Iran took action. Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed to Blinken that the sovereignty of both Iran and Syria should be respected. The US side should understand the meaning of this before it is so bitter to dissuade Israel.
In the final analysis, the root cause of the contradictions between Israel and other countries is still the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, since Biden has vowed to push back the Trump policy, then now that the United States is going to have another election, Biden has to hurry up and get things done as soon as possible, after all, no one knows how many days Biden has to be president.