"I welcome the comments of my colleague the Iranian FM to create distance from escalation!"

"... Terrorism has a long history in some countries like the Zionist regime," Ali Larijani said of nuclear-armed Israel, which views an atomic bomb in the hands of the Islamic Republic as a threat to the survival of the Jewish state.
"The Zionist regime should be punished in a way that it can not play such games with our country again."
Such threats have been made before in Tehran and it is unclear how or when they might be carried out. Israel is on guard against attacks on its borders and within, notably by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which is supported by Iran....
Sharp U.S. disavowal of American involvement in the killing have drawn some analysts to see it as a form of rebuke to Israel, amid speculation that President Barack Obama is wary, while he campaigns for re-election in November, that Israel could launch unilateral action that might inflame the region.
Obama's top military official, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, paid a brief visit to Israel and was quoted by its defense ministry as telling officials there that Washington was keen to coordinate on strategy.
"We have many interests in common in the region in this very dynamic time and the more we can continue to engage each other, the better off we'll all be," Dempsey was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Israeli defense ministry...
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday that time was running out to avoid a military intervention, however, and he appealed to China and Russia, veto-wielding U.N. powers who have been reluctant to back tightening Western embargos let alone military force, to support new sanctions.
"Time is running out. France will do everything to avoid a military intervention," Sarkozy told ambassadors gathered in Paris. "A military intervention will not solve the problem, but it will unleash war and chaos in the Middle East."
"We need stronger, more decisive sanctions that stop the purchase of Iranian oil and freezes the assets of the central bank, and those who don't want that will be responsible for the risks of a military conflict," Sarkozy warned.
"Help us guarantee peace in the world. We really need you," he said, in an appeal to Moscow and Beijing....
With tensions, including mutual threats of disrupting the oil trade, creating worries across the region, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, the wealthy, U.S.-allied state sitting across the Gulf from Iran, offered a warm welcome to a call for calm on Thursday by his Iranian counterpart.
"It's important to get far away from any escalation and we stress the stability of the region," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan was quoted as saying by state news agency WAM.
"I welcome the comments of my colleague the Iranian foreign minister to create distance from any escalation. What matters to us is that stability prevail in the region. We don't want anything to damage stability in the region and there is an effort from all to work towards stability."