Iran’s foreign minister warned Israel that attacks by Iran and its allies against Israeli and American targets will continue so long as Israeli forces are waging war in Gaza on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the attacks would halt if Israel withdraws its forces. Iran and its proxy terrorist groups have attacked Israeli and U.S. targets more than 100 times since mid-October, threatening to widen Israel’s war against Hamas into a regional conflict.
‘An end to the genocide in Gaza will lead to an end of military actions and crises in the region,’ Amirabdollahian said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
‘The security of the Red Sea is tied to the developments in Gaza, and everyone will suffer if Israel’s crimes in Gaza do not stop… All the (resistance) fronts will remain active,’ he added.
Iran deployed one of its navy vessels to the Red Sea earlier this month. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also launched dozens of missile and drone attacks against international trade vessels in the Red Sea.
The U.S. and other Western allies have thwarted many of the Houthi attacks, but several shipping companies have diverted travel elsewhere. Such diversions cost weeks of shipping time as vessels must travel around Africa.
Israel has given no indication that it plans to halt its war against Hamas in the near future. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war after Hamas carried out a massacre on Oct. 7 that included the killing of at least 1,200 Israelis, has said the war will last ‘many more months.’
Netanyahu has also threatened war with Hezbollah, another Iran-backed terrorist organization that operates in Lebanon to Israel’s north.
President Biden’s administration has remained largely supportive of Israel throughout the conflict, but has urged Netanyahu’s government to scale back its offensive in Gaza.
Reuters contributed to this report.
