As Israel enters its fourth week in its war against Hamas terrorists, the Israeli military ramped up its ground invasion of Gaza, causing Iran to issue a stark warning for the country.
On Sunday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned that Israel’s ongoing retaliatory attack on Gaza “may force everyone” to get involved in the war.
“The crimes of the Zionist regime have crossed the red lines, and this may force everyone to take action,” Raisi wrote on X. “Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel. The U.S. sent messages to the Axis of Resistance but received a clear response on the battlefield.”
In a statement from Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, Raisi argued that the United States was being hypocritical in its stance against Hamas onslaught of Israel.
“Americans who claim human rights, who equip and support this fake and anti-human regime with military equipment for crimes in Gaza, what answer do they have to their nation and the nations of the world for these actions?” the statement read.
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Although it was not immediately clear what Raisi was referring to, there have been a string of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as increasing exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon border since the Gaza conflict began. Iran, which financially and militarily backs Hamas, hailed the October 7 attacks as a “success.” But it has insisted it was not involved in the onslaught. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden have cautioned Tehran against involvement, including via its proxies, chief among them Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah. Iran has long warned that Israel’s war against the Tehran-backed Hamas terror group may be expanded.
Over the weekend, Raisi insisted Iran was not involved in the gruesome attacks on Israel, which killed more than 1,400 Israeli citizens.
“Iran considers it its duty to support the resistance groups, but… the resistance groups are independent in their opinion, decision, and action,” Raisi said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “The United States knows very well our current capabilities and knows that they are impossible to overcome.”
While defending attacks on the U.S. military in the Middle East that Iran-linked groups conducted, Raisi claimed they were led in response to messages that Iran had received from the U.S.