Iran has never sought war in the region, the country’s foreign minister said during a visit to Lebanon to discuss Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact on regional security.
“Iran and Lebanon confirm that war is not the solution and that we have absolutely never sought to expand it,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday at a conference of press alongside Abdallah Bou Habib, Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Beirut.
However, he threatened that any widespread Israeli attack on Lebanon would be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “last day.”
His visit to Beirut comes as the United States and Israel continue to blame Iran and its armed groups aligned in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen for escalating tensions in the region via attacks on targets American and Israeli.
“After months of aggression and genocide perpetrated by the Zionist regime (Israel) in Gaza and the West Bank, Tel Aviv has failed to achieve any of its stated goals,” Amir-Abdollahian told reporters.
“Continued American support for the Zionist regime and Netanyahu will only result in final defeat,” he said.
در بیروت با آقایان نجیب میقاتی، نخست‌وزیر دولت پیشبرد امور لبنان، نبیه رئیس پارلمان، زی جنبش جهاد اسلامی و برخی مقامات حماس و فلسطین و ه مچنین سید‌حسن نصرالله دیر ل حزب‌الله لبنان دیدار کردم.
علاوه بر مناسبات دوجانبه میان ایران و لبنان، مهم‌ترین تحولات منطقه … pic.twitter.com/MT92FB1YGS– H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) February 10, 2024
During his visit, the Iranian diplomat met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Ziad Nakhale, Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, as well as Hamas officials. He also met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“An Arab problem that requires an Arab solution”
After his meetings in Lebanon, Amir-Abdollahian is expected to travel to Damascus, the Syrian capital, where Iran also exerts influence over other groups. He should then go to Qatar, the main mediator between Israel and Hamas.
Some political analysts viewed the Iranian foreign minister’s tour of Lebanon and other regional countries as a way to influence the outcome of negotiations over the Gaza war.
Iran was not represented in Saudi Arabia at a meeting on Thursday where ministers from Arab countries discussed initiatives for Gaza after the end of the war.
“Interestingly, the exclusion of Iran and the inclusion of Qatar is something that we have to take into account, because the Saudis were saying that this was an Arab problem that required Arab solutions. Iran, of course, wants to have a say in what happens once the war ends,” political analyst Mehran Kamrava told Tel Aviv Tribune.
On Saturday, Amir-Abdollahian said a political solution was the only way to end the conflict in Gaza and that Tehran was in talks with Riyadh on the issue.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Zeina Khodr said from Beirut that this was the Iranian foreign minister’s third trip to the region since the start of the war, and this time he stressed that the Palestinians themselves had to decide their future.
Furthermore, Khodr stressed that his trip to Lebanon also coincided with Israel’s threat to expand its attacks against Hezbollah if it did not obtain security guarantees along the border.
After 17 years of relative calm along the Israeli-Lebanese border, Hezbollah and the Israeli army began launching attacks in the region on October 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing approximately 1,100 people, and that Israel launched a relentless attack on Gaza. which killed more than 28,000 Palestinians.
Hezbollah officials said they would stop attacking Israeli military posts when the Israeli attack on Gaza ends.
On Friday, Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Beirut that “Hezbollah and the resistance in Lebanon have courageously and wisely played their deterrent and effective role.”
He said Tehran would continue “its firm support for the resistance in Lebanon, because we consider the security of Lebanon as the security of Iran and the region.”