An Iranian top diplomat warned that Tehran has “no red line in defense of our interests” while on a trip to Iraq on Sunday.
As fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified in recent weeks, there are fears of an all-out regional war between Israel and the Axis of Resistance—a network of Iran and its proxies, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen.
“We have made a lot of efforts to prevent an all-out war in the region, but we have no red line in defense of our interests,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said upon arriving in Baghdad. “As we have stated so many times, we are fully prepared for any situation and scenario. Nobody wants war in the region except the Zionist regime,” Araghchi said of Israel.
Newsweek reached out to the Israeli military and Iran’s foreign ministry via email for comment Sunday morning.
It’s been a little over a year since Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history, killing some 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. Nearly 100 people remain in captivity, less than 70 of whom are believed to be alive. Israel subsequently launched its military operation in Gaza, killing some 42,000 Palestinians so far, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Local health officials don’t differentiate between civilians and fighters but say many of those killed were women and children.
Hezbollah started firing rockets and drones against Israel in solidarity with Hamas shortly after the October 7, 2023, attack. Israel subsequently began striking Lebanon.
However, tensions in the Middle East have been escalating since Hezbollah’s electronic devices exploded last month in a coordinated attack that it claimed Israel was behind. Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack that killed dozens and injured thousands more.
On October 1, Iran fired a barrage of nearly 200 missiles at Israel, most of which U.S. and Israeli officials said were intercepted. Iran said its attack was in retaliation for Israel killing the head of Hamas in Tehran in July, as well as the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s former leader along with a senior Iranian military official in Beirut who Israel killed in a strike last month and other operations tied to Israel in the region.
Meanwhile, nearly two weeks ago, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
“The IDF’s limited and localized raids in southern Lebanon aim to eliminate the threat of Hezbollah rocket fire and the Radwan Forces, whose expressed mission is to infiltrate towns in northern Israel to murder and kidnap Israeli civilians,” the IDF said in a statement on Thursday. “The IDF is operating to prevent further attacks by Hezbollah and to return the residents of the north to their homes.”
But Hezbollah, which has battled Israel in two previous wars that ultimately resulted in the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, has continued to launch new operations against Israeli military and cities. The group claimed around two dozen separate operations against the IDF on Friday alone.
Iran provides funding, weapons and training to Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a 2021 terrorism report by the U.S. Department of State. But Iranian officials have previously told Newsweek that, although they have been providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon as Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah, sending military aid to the country was not necessary.
Iran Denies Reports of Link to October 7
Meanwhile, Iran has denied reports about “secret documents” allegedly created by Hamas and later obtained by Israel linking the Islamic Republic to the October 7 attack.
On Saturday, The New York Times revealed the minutes of several secret meetings Hamas held in the lead-up to October 7 that were said to show efforts by Hamas to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to join in the attack.
The Iranian Mission to the United Nations previously told Newsweek: “While Doha-stationed Hamas officials have themselves stated that they, too, had no prior knowledge of the operation and that all the planning, decision-making, and directing were solely executed by Hamas’s military wing based in Gaza, any claim attempting to link it to Iran or Hezbollah—either partially or wholly—is devoid of credence and comes from fabricated documents.”
Later that same day, The Washington Post published a separate article also citing alleged Hamas documents obtained by Israeli forces that appeared to show plans for an even larger-scale attack against Israel, as well as appeals by Hamas to Iranian officials for greater support. The report said it was unclear whether Iranian leadership was ultimately aware of the plots and cited Israeli and other Middle Eastern officials saying that Tehran expressed anger over not being informed of the attack launched on October 7.
In a follow-up statement, the Iranian Mission told Newsweek: “We regard the Israeli regime as a mendacious criminal, anti-human entity and place no credence in their illusions. They have a long history of spreading falsehoods, fabricating already-counterfeit documents, and conducting deceptive psychological operations.”
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