Iran’s foreign minister warned in Doha on Saturday that “no one can guarantee control over the situation” if Israel were to launch a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The warning is reflected in an Iranian ministry statement released in the Qatari capital following Hossein Amir-Habdollahian’s visit as part of a regional tour that also took him to Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.
The head of Iranian diplomacy was received by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim ben Hamad al-Thani, with whom he discussed “the evolution of the situation in the Palestinian territories,” according to the QNA news agency.
The Islamic Republic of Iran financially and militarily supports Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that launched a bloody attack on Israel on 7 this month, triggering a war in the Gaza Strip and resulting Israeli military retaliation.
“If the Zionist regime’s attacks on the defenseless people of Gaza continue, no one can guarantee control over the situation and the prospect of an expansion of the conflict,” Amir-Habdollahian said during the meeting with the Qatari leader, the statement said of the ministry. of Iranian foreign affairs.
Israel and the United States fear the opening of a second front in northern Israel, on the border with Lebanon, if Hezbollah, another Iranian-backed movement, decides to intervene massively in the war between Israel and its Palestinian ally.
The minister said that parties that want to prevent the crisis from spreading must stop the Zionist regime’s barbaric attacks, the press release said.
Amir-Abdollahian also stated that senior Hamas leaders, with whom he met in recent days in Beirut and Doha, consider “the issue of civilian prisoners” as “a priority on the agenda” and that “if the conditions are met, they will do that.” take appropriate action,” the statement said.
On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said it was the duty of the Muslim world to support the Palestinian people and guaranteed that the Palestinians “will prevail in the war” against Israel.
“Everyone in the Muslim world has a duty to support the Palestinian people. By the grace of God, the movement that started in Palestine will progress and result in the complete victory of the Palestinians,” Khamenei said on the social network the Islam”.
Khamenei said on Tuesday that Palestinians are proud of the surprise attack on Israel while denying any Iranian involvement in the conflict.
“We kiss the foreheads and hands of the intelligent and qualified leaders who organized this operation, and of the Palestinian youth. We are proud of them,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Iran and Israel have maintained a rivalry that represents a mutual existential threat as they vie for regional hegemony and wage a covert war involving cyberattacks, assassinations and acts of sabotage.
Iran leads the so-called Axis of Resistance, a kind of informal alliance consisting of Syria, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Palestinian factions, Iraqi militias and the Yemeni Houthi rebels, among others.
Source: DN
