Tehran will ignore US warnings not to intervene in the Hamas-Israel conflict, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said, blasting the West over its reluctance to help end the hostilities.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera on Saturday, Raisi said that Washington “is asking us not to move while providing broad support to the Zionist entity… This is an invalid demand.”
The Iranian president also claimed that Israel’s expanded ground operations in Gaza were a failure, describing it as “the second victory (for Palestinians) following (the launch of) the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation,” referring to the surprise attack carried out by the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas on October 7.
Hezbollah media released a video, with a surah (passage) from the Quran:
“When the first of the two warnings would come to pass, We would send against you some of Our servants of great might, who would ravage your homes. This would be a warning fulfilled.”
— al-Isra 5 pic.twitter.com/ngPQpSmzpS— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 29, 2023
Raisi also said that the United States had sent messages to the ‘Axis of Resistance’ – referring to an informal alliance of anti-Western and anti-Israel forces in the Middle East – and “received a practical and public answer on the ground.”
Raisi went on to accuse the US and some unnamed European countries of “obstructing the ceasefire in Gaza,” calling such policies “a crime.”
He added that “the United States’ calculations in the region are completely wrong, and said it will not achieve its goals with a new Middle East,” stressing that Tehran’s support for the Palestinians “is not subject to compromise.”
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: the number of Palestinians killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza exceeded 8,005, including 3,342 children, 2,062 women, and 460 elderly people in addition to nearly 20,000 wounded.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/vYfoYHHA4r pic.twitter.com/z7I5BbHgzp
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 29, 2023
US President Joe Biden pledged unconditional support for Israel while warning Iran to be “careful.” At the same time, he stopped short of backing a cessation of hostilities, with several US media outlets reporting that the State Department had distributed a memo to its diplomats advising them to avoid calling for “de-escalation” or a “ceasefire” in Gaza.
Publicly, Biden has said that ceasefire talks cannot begin until Hamas releases more than 200 hostages. Meanwhile, on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict, saying he believed there was consensus among the bloc’s members on the matter.
Raisi’s comments come after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned the US that “new fronts will be opened up” against Washington if it does not change its policies in the Middle East, including its unequivocal support for Israel.
(RT, PC)
