As everyone waits to see how Israel responds militarily to Iran, it is also acting diplomatically.

Israel looks less isolated as attention has moved away from Gaza and will be hoping to capitalise on this to place international pressure on Iran.

Israel’s foreign minister said he had written to 32 countries calling for further sanctions on Iran. This includes, he said, sanctions on Iran’s missile programme.

A series of UN sanctions on Iran’s missile programme expired last October because they had been linked to a wider deal on Iran’s Nuclear Programme. Countries including the US, UK and EU have already maintained sanctions though and added new ones.

Israel’s Foreign Minister also called for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be declared a terrorist organisation. The US has already done so but the UK has not.

The debate about whether to go down this path has been difficult and divisive within government. Some favour a ban and others oppose it because they think that the IRGC is part of the state rather than a terrorist organisation, and a ban would lead Iran to close down channels of communication between the two countries.

(Source: BBC)