Is Iran really ready to expand the war in the Middle East? “Empty threats, all rhetoric to get out of the embarrassment with Hamas, which continues to expect something more in addition to logistical support,” is the answer with which informed sources in Tehran, together with Adnkronos, analyze the recent appearances of the Iranian leadership The youngest foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who yesterday in an interview on Tg1 warned again about the risk of escalation of the conflict and also questioned Italy, which has to “worry about its soldiers in Lebanon”. “Tehran has no intention of escalating the war, but is using rhetoric against the United States and the West to persuade them to pressure Israel to end the campaign against Hamas,” the sources explain.
The “red line” for the Iranians is that the Palestinian Islamic resistance group is not beheaded, but the further Israel continues its operation in the Gaza Strip, “the more embarrassing it will be for the Tehran regime” not to go beyond the guaranteed logistical support so far. “At a certain point it might no longer be enough for Hamas,” said the sources. Who also talk about “after Gaza,” where there is no hypothesis of a PNA government in the Gaza Strip for Iran: “After Hamas, there is only Hamas, the Palestinian Authority is just a group of corrupt people.”
In an analysis for CNN, Peter Bergen, a security and terrorism expert, quotes Henry Kissinger that “Iranian leaders should decide whether Iran is a nation or a thing.” It seems that Tehran has decided that “it is both,” and for this reason it is exporting its militant Shiite ideology to the countries of the region, arming the Houthi militias in Yemen, supporting and funding those in Iraq and Syria Hezbollah in Lebanon and… Hamas in Gaza, the expert emphasizes. All instruments he uses to keep tensions high with Israel and the United States, but not to the point of no return. Iran, which has been grappling with the protest movement against the veil requirement and an increasingly difficult economic situation due to sanctions for over a year, wants to use its “proxies” to keep the pressure on Israel and the American armed forces high with a series of attacks, but this is unlikely is to “start” a large-scale war, Bergen argues.
