Luís Marques Mendes echoes concerns of wider world
Echoing concerns coming from the Portuguese government and the wider world, candidate for the presidency, Luís Marques Mendes, has called for a strong response from Europe to try and ensure the “profoundly unnecessary” offensive launched by Israel against Iran last night does not escalate further.
The former PSD leader sees the current situation as “very dangerous”. Talking to Lusa at the end of a visit to a day centre in Mem Martins, he showed the frustrations of being on the sidelines of an increasingly volatile world.
He called the offensive – which apparently went ahead with America’s knowledge – “a completely gratuitous, profoundly unnecessary, and above all, very dangerous intervention in a very sensitive area of the world”.
“I can only deplore a situation of this nature and, above all, hope that there are, as there already seem to be, some attempts at mediation so that this conflict doesn’t escalate any further,” he said.
The government, through the foreign ministry, is in touch with diplomatic missions to ensure the safety of Portuguese in the region – and it is also calling for “maximum contention” of the situation.
These voices of reason are nonetheless very much in the background as international sources talk of tensions increasing by the hour.
Euronews has just reported that Iran’s new revolutionary guard commander, Mohammad Pakpour, has threatened to open “the gates of hell” in retaliation for Israel’s attacks, which are reportedly still continuing.
“In retribution for the blood of our fallen commanders, scientists and citizens, the gates of hell will soon be opened upon this child-killing regime,” he said in a message to Iran’s Supreme Leader, carried by Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
With multiple countries now getting involved in trying to mediate a de-escalation in tensions, it remains to be seen who will be ‘strong enough’ to do so, if anybody. ND
