On 14 October, Iran issued a threat of retaliation if Israel invades Gaza to drive out Hamas. According to the country’s media, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian declared, “If the Zionist regime’s crimes against the Palestinian people and citizens continue, no one can guarantee that the situation in the region will remain the same.” He said this after meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar, where Hamas leadership resides.
#Iran FM met senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh tonight in Doha, #Qatar. pic.twitter.com/KxIttxW8vs
— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) October 14, 2023
Senior Western diplomats responded cautiously to the threat, highlighting the ambiguity of the threat and doubted Iran’s desire to engage in the conflict more directly. According to a United Nations official, the Iranian foreign minister told an important Middle East envoy that Tehran had no immediate plans to intervene in the matter.
The Iranian minister demanded that Israel cease its attacks on Gaza and mentioned that if Hezbollah joined the fight, violence might expand to other regions of the Middle East and cause the Jewish state to experience “a huge earthquake.” He noted that Israel should put an immediate halt to the assault because Hamas had considered all conceivable war scenarios.
Tehran has informed Jerusalem through the UN that it will interfere if the campaign in Gaza carries on, particularly if a ground offensive is initiated. Two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the situation were quoted in the report.
According to the source, Iran delivered the remarks during a meeting with UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland on 14th October in Beirut which drew harsh criticism from Israel. Later on the same day, Amir-Abdollahian met with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau in Qatar.
Iran’s UN mission also posted a tweet warning that failure to promptly put a closure to Israel’s “war crimes and genocide” would have “far-reaching consequences” and lead the situation to “spiral out of control.”
If the Israeli apartheid’s war crimes & genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences—the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end.
— Permanent Mission of I.R.Iran to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) October 14, 2023
On 14th October, Israel had instructed Palestinians residing in the heavily populated Gaza region to escape southwards toward a restricted border with Egypt as it prepared to launch a ground operation against Iran-backed Hamas.
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat. It is estimated that the latter possesses 150,000 rockets and missiles including precision-guided missiles that can strike any place in Israel. It also owns a variety of military drones.
The Iranian minister observed, “I know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place. Any step the resistance (Hezbollah) will take will cause a huge earthquake in the Zionist entity. I want to warn the war criminals and those who support this entity before it’s too late to stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza because it might be too late in a few hours.”
He stressed that he would get in touch with UN representatives in the region because “there is still time to work on an initiative (to end the war) but tomorrow it might be too late.” The prospect of a fresh front opening up in Lebanon brings back painful memories of the tight cease-fire that followed the month-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
US President Joe Biden reminded other players in the Middle East not to enter the battle. He ordered American warships to the area and guaranteed complete support for Israel with an eye toward Hezbollah.
Even though the two sides work closely together and Tehran provides Hamas with resources and military expertise, leaders from Hamas have said that Iran was not behind the gruesome attack on southern Israel.
