Iran has issued a chilling threat to the United States, telling them it will ‘be hit hard’ if no ceasefire is implemented in Gaza, amid new fears that Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza could escalate.
Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani, Iran’s Minister of Defence, emphasized the urgency, stating: ‘Our advice to the Americans is to halt the war in Gaza and implement a ceasefire immediately, otherwise they will be hit hard.’
But Mr Blinken rejected a ceasefire, insisting it would only give Iranian-backed Hamas a chance to regroup following its horrific attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 civilians and taking more than 240 hostage.
Instead, Mr Blinken pressed for ‘pauses’ in the fighting to allow civilians to evacuate from the battleground of Gaza City and the northern part of the enclave, which is being pounded with heavy Israeli artillery barrages as the war passes its 30th day.
The uncompromising tone was echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pledged at an air force base: ‘There will be no ceasefire without the return of our hostages, we say this to both our enemies and our friends. We will continue until we beat them.’ Another senior Iranian government figure ramped up the tension with the West still further.
Mohammad Reza Naqdi deputy leader of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said: ‘If Israel’s crimes continue, we should strike America’s interests,’ without specifying how.
Iran considers the US, Israel’s foremost ally, to be ‘militarily-involved’ in the conflict. The US has continuously defended Israel’s right to defend itself and has offered military support, in addition to moving its war ships and 2,000 marines into the region.
Iranian regime officials have consistently warned Israel of potential escalation should the attacks on Gaza not cease, with the death toll in the strip rising to over 9,700, Hamas-led officials say.
Its Yemeni proxy, the Houthis, have already been sending missiles towards Israel, intercepted by Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, on Israel’s borders, attacks from its proxies in Syria and Lebanon continue to ramp up, with action also seen from its militia in Iraq.
Tensions were racheted up amid fears of the fighting spreading into a regional conflict just a day after Hezbollah’s firebrand leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to escalate the war against Israel, warning of a ‘true battle’.
The powerful group’s leader praised the Alaqsa Flood – the name used by Hamas for its vicious assault last month – and said the ‘glorious jihadi operation’ had led to an ‘earthquake’ in the Jewish state, revealed the weakness of Israel and its army, and established a new historical phase in the battle.
‘Your fleet in the Mediterranean do not scare us… We are ready to face the fleet you threaten us with,’ Nasrallah said, addressing the US. ‘Whoever wants to prevent a regional war must quickly stop the aggression on Gaza.’
The United States ‘impedes a ceasefire and the end of the aggression’, he added. His heavily armed group, backed by Iran, carried out simultaneous attacks on Israeli positions along the Lebanese border, as residents of south Lebanon reported the fiercest Israeli strikes yet.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said its planes had struck Hezbollah targets in retaliation for their attack and combined the air strikes with artillery and tank shelling.
Tehran-backed Iraqi Shi’ite groups have also been firing on US forces in Iraq and Syria.
But after 30 days of war, Israel continued its brutal attack on Hamas overnight, with IDF jets striking a ‘terror base’, troops fighting militants at ‘close quarters’ and dismantling part of the group’s tunnel network in northern Gaza.
Nearly a month after the worst attack in the country’s history, Israel, who sent troops into the narrow Palestinian territory last month, has managed to strike ‘over 2,500 terror targets’ by ‘ground air and naval forces’, the army said on Sunday.
In a statement, it said ground soldiers were engaged in ‘close-quarters combat’ as Israeli jets were striking targets including a ‘Hamas military compound’ at an undisclosed location overnight.
Video shared to the IDF’s social media also revealed them uncovering one of the terror groups hidden tunnels, long been viewed as a major security challenge, used in the past for smuggling and incursions into Israel, as well as a serious obstacle for Israeli forces attempting to operate in Gaza.
‘While Hamas obstructs their civilians from getting to safety in southern Gaza, Hamas hides within their intricate network of terror tunnels.
