Iran’s foreign minister warned of “uncontrollable consequences” for the US if its support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza continues to grow.
“I say frankly to the American statesmen who are now leading the genocide in Palestine that we do not welcome the expansion of war in the region,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an address to the United Nations. “But I warn: If the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire. It is our homeland and West Asia is our region.”
The war in Gaza began earlier this month after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli cities that killed more than 1,400 people. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 6,700 Palestinians were killed in subsequent Israeli airstrikes.
Iran has long been an ally of Hamas, providing it with money, military training and weapons. The militant group is considered a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union.
At the start of the conflict, Hamas took about 200 people hostage, mostly Israeli civilians. Amir-Abdollahian said Hamas was ready to release these hostages and called on members to also support the release of about 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Hostages have been at the center of the conflict over the past week after four hostages were released, two Americans and two elderly Israeli women.
Amir-Abdollahian portrayed Hamas militants as a Palestinian resistance and said the group had what he called an “inalienable right” to self-determination and independence for Gaza, free from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
He also criticized the US role in the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“The United States of America, as a steadfast and enduring supporter of the occupation regime, is the root cause of the failure of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, to uphold the rights of Palestinians,” he said.
Amir-Abdollahian addressed his words to President Biden and called on the US to stop supporting Israel in the conflict.
“While the United States itself is in practice committing and directly complicit in crimes against Palestinians, it is unable to call on others to exercise self-restraint and refrain from expanding the war,” he continued. “Therefore, we strongly warn of the uncontrollable consequences of the White House’s unlimited financial, military and operational support to the regime in Tel Aviv, which has resulted in the expansion and intensification of the bombing of civilians and Palestinian women and children in Gaza and the West Bank.”
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