Iran warned Israel of escalation if it failed to end aggressions against Palestinians, with its foreign minister stating that other parties in the region were prepared to act, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
Hossein Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying, “If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Sunday to “demolish Hamas” as his military prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in search of the Palestinian militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns surprised the world.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority Supreme Leader, said on Tuesday Tehran was not involved in the Palestinian militant Hamas group’s invasion of Israel, but hailed what he called Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat.
Israel has long blamed Iran’s clerical rulers for stoking violence by providing arms to Hamas. Tehran says it gives moral and financial support to the group, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Supporting the Palestinian cause has been a pillar of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution and a way the Shi’ite-dominated nation has fashioned itself as a leader of the Muslim world.
Amiabdollahian, who last week blamed Israel for seeking “genocide” by implementing a blockade against the Gaza Strip, said an attack on Gaza would “open new fronts of resistance” in the Middle East.
Amirabdollahian said, “The responsibility for the possible opening of new fronts of resistance in the region and any escalation of today’s war directly falls on the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel).”
The Iran-backed Hamas said in a statement that Amirabdollahian met with Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, on Saturday in Qatar, where they were concerned about the group’s deadly invasion in Israel “and agreed to continue cooperation” to achieve the group’s goals.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi earlier urged France to help “prevent oppression” of Palestinians in a phone call with his counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
