Israeli ground offensive in Gaza ‘will force Iran to intervene sparking wider Middle East war’ – as foreign minister warns of ‘giant earthquake’ if Hezbollah gets involved
- Iranian hardliner says all hands ‘are on the trigger’ as Israel prepares to invade
- Hossein Amirabdollahian told the UN that Iran and its Hezbollah proxy would not stand by if the attacks continued
- Comes as fighting escalates with Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border
Iran’s foreign minister has privately warned the United Nations that Iran will join the war if Israel invades Gaza.
Hossein Amirabdollahian said the “hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger” and claimed there could be only hours before the conflict spreads across the Middle East.
He said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has played all scenarios and is ready to fight as more than 300,000 Israeli reservists gather on the border of the Palestinian enclave
“Any move that the resistance (Hezbollah) will take will cause a major earthquake in the Zionist entity,” he told reporters in Beirut.
“I want to warn the war criminals and those who support this entity before it is too late to stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza, because it could be too late in a few hours.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Iran will intervene unless Israel withdraws from its attack on Gaza
Hezbollah, which controls Lebanon’s border with Israel, would be Iran’s leading proxy fighters
The health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 2,670 Palestinians had been killed and more than 9,600 wounded in a week of relentless Israeli aerial bombardment
Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon on Israel’s northern border and has repeatedly exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers since the October 7 Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
The Shiite militia fought Israel to a standstill when the government of Ehud Olmert tried to eliminate their threat with a ground invasion in 2006 and is committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.
They fought alongside the government of Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad in its brutal civil war and would be Iran’s front line in any war with Israel.
“If the Americans do not want the war to spread in the region, they must control Israel,” Amirabdollahian told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday.
“If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger.”
Israeli Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Hezbollah intensified fighting on the Lebanese border on Sunday, but that Israel was prepared to fight on two fronts or more “if necessary.”
Iran has cultivated closer relations with Hamas in recent years as it seeks common ground with the Sunni terror group that controls Gaza in the face of their common enemy Israel.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week that Iran had “broad complicity” in the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.
But he said they had not yet seen ‘any specific evidence that tells us that they were consciously involved in the planning or involved in the resources and the training that went into this very complex set of attacks’.
Amirabdollahian was also keen to distance Iran from direct involvement in an attack that would leave the country open to direct retaliation with two US aircraft carrier fleets now ordered to the eastern Mediterranean.
“The recent operation by the Palestinians was 100 percent Palestinian in nature as confirmed by the West,” he claimed.
“The move by the Palestinians was a natural response to Netanyahu’s crimes, especially in recent months.”
Hezbollah fighters pictured during an exercise in May have long trained for war against Israel
The fighters fought Israel to a standstill in southern Lebanon in 2006 and have since gained combat experience fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.
Israeli Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Hezbollah intensified fighting on the Lebanese border on Sunday, but that Israel was prepared to fight on two or more fronts ‘if necessary’
But diplomatic sources said he told Tor Wennesland, the UN envoy to the Middle East, that Iran would respond militarily if Israel’s attack on Gaza continued. Fox News reports.
A week of relentless Israeli airstrikes on the enclave continued on Sunday, as the Gaza health ministry said at least 2,670 Palestinians had been killed and more than 9,600 wounded.
An impending ground invasion has reportedly been stalled for several days amid bad weather that would limit air support, and concerns about the extensive network of underground defenses that Hamas has bolstered for years.
“If Israel decides to enter Gaza, Hamas will turn the city into a cemetery where the occupation soldiers are buried,” Amirabdollahian told Al Jazeera.