Urgent warning
Iran’s foreign minister: “Expansion of war inevitable”
November 10, 2023, 1:39 p.m
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The concern is great: Will the Gaza war spread to the region? After Iran warned about this several times, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian chose his harshest words to date. He justifies this with Israel’s actions against civilians in Gaza.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says he is convinced that the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas will not be limited to the Gaza Strip. “Due to the increasing intensity of the war against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, an expansion of the war has become inevitable,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a telephone conversation with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to his ministry’s website. Representatives of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip had previously claimed that the Israeli Air Force had attacked several hospitals or their immediate surroundings.
Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani also expressed concern. “It is possible that a mistake, a wrong decision or an inaccurate action will draw the flame of war in our direction,” the newspaper “Etemad” quoted the politician as saying. “We are not in a state of war, but we are not far from war,” warned the 74-year-old.
Worries about escalation are greatest in the USA
The comments are also likely to fuel US concerns about the fighting spreading to other regions in the Middle East. The US Navy has already sent combat units to the eastern Mediterranean, which, according to the US, are intended to prevent destabilization of the region.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters entered Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7th and, according to Israeli reports, killed around 1,400 people in attacks on several towns and a music festival; around 240 more people were abducted to the Gaza Strip.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel declared war on the Palestinian Islamist organization and has since attacked Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. According to the latest information from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 10,800 people were killed. Since then, concerns have grown that the war could spread to the entire region.
Close ties to Islamic Jihad
Tehran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, described the attack by the militant Islamic militia as a “success” but denied any involvement in it. However, according to President Ebrahim Raisi, the Islamic Republic sees it as its “duty” to support the “resistance groups.” These would act independently of Iran.
Tehran also supports the radical Islamic Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, which has repeatedly bombed targets in northern Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war. In addition, there are repeated attacks on US troops stationed in Iraq and Syria, some of which are claimed by a group called the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”. According to Washington, she is also linked to Iran.
The Islamic Republic maintains good relations with both the Gulf Emirate of Qatar and the Palestinian organization Hamas. Israel has been Tehran’s declared archenemy since the 1979 revolution.