Hezbollah won’t interject itself in a showdown between the United States and Iran if President Trump carries out “limited” military action against the terror group’s backer country, an official said Wednesday.
But the Hezbollah official told AFP that the Lebanese-based group would consider any attack directed at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a “red line.”
“In the event of limited US strikes on Iran, Hezbollah’s position will be to not intervene militarily,” the official said, adding that it would take up arms if it believes the US wants to “provoke the downfall of the Iranian regime or to target the supreme leader.”
The statement came as Israel warned Lebanon that it would unleash on the country, including taking aim at its civilian infrastructure, if the terror group threw itself into a war between the US and Iran, two senior Lebanese officials told Reuters Tuesday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also pushed Hezbollah to not haul the nation into “another adventure” during a newspaper interview that was published Tuesday.
Israel battered Hezbollah during a brief war in 2024, killing thousands of its fighters, including taking out its former secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, and destroying most of its arsenal.
Tension in the Middle East has been palpable over a possible conflict breaking out between Washington and Tehran. The US has been building up its military presence in the region.
President Trump signaled Tuesday that Iran isn’t coming around to dumping all of its nuclear enrichment, telling network news anchors that the regime “desperately wants a deal” — but “can’t say” it despite the massive naval firepower assembled offshore.
“Iran desperately wants a deal. But Iran just can’t say the sacred phrase ‘we won’t build nuclear weapons,’” Trump said at the traditional pre-State of the Union lunch, Fox News anchor Bret Baier reported.
The commander-in-chief had also previously warned Tehran that he would fire on them over the slaughter of anti-regime protesters.
Hezbollah’s new leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech last month that it was “not neutral” in the faceoff between Washington and Tehran.
“We are determined to defend ourselves. We will choose in due course how to act, whether to intervene or not,” Qassem said.
A third round of negotiations between Iran and the US was set for Thursday on Tehran’s nuclear program.
With Post wires
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