Iran told US it did not want Israel-Hamas war to escalate, foreign minister says

Iran’s top diplomat has said Tehran told the US through back channels that it did not want the Israel-Hamas war to spread further, but also warned Washington that regional conflict could be unavoidable if Israeli attacks on Gaza continue.

“Over the past 40 days, messages have been exchanged between Iran and the US, via the US interests section at the Swiss embassy in Tehran,” foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in an interview, while ruling out the possibility of direct talks between the two foes.

“In response to the US,” he added, “we said that Iran does not want the war to spread, but due to the approach adopted by the US and Israel in the region, if the crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank are not stopped, any possibility could be considered, and a wider conflict could prove inevitable.”

Iran, the main supporter of anti-Israel Islamist militants in the region, has said it was not informed in advance of Hamas’s devastating attack on Israel on October 7th - a position that US officials have confirmed. But western states hold Iran responsible for its extensive support for “resistance” groups against the Jewish state - including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hizbullah - which Iran sees as an essential pillar of its security strategy.

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[ ‘Axis of Resistance’ pushing US to increase its Middle East defences ]

Iran’s foreign minister has toured the region since the Gaza war began, a flurry of diplomacy that has taken him to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He has also met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Proxy forces

Mr Amirabdollahian insisted that Hizbullah and other Islamist militants in Palestine, Iraq, Syria and Yemen were not Iran’s proxy forces, saying each had an independent political identity. But he warned that these groups “are not indifferent towards the killing of their Muslim and Arab peers in Palestine”.

In western capitals, there are concerns that Iran could push its proxy forces, notably Hizbullah - the most powerful of the so-called “axis of resistance” - to escalate hostilities in the region.

The US has built up its military presence in the region over the past month, dispatching two carrier strike groups to act as a deterrent.

Mr Amirabdollahian said the US had not threatened that Iran could be hit if Hizbullah launched an all-out assault on Israel. However, he accused Washington of inviting Tehran “to exercise restraint” while it was itself escalating the war in Gaza with massive support for Israel.

He said the US’s messages to Hizbullah similarly urging restraint “would fail to make the resistance group cautious in its decision-making”.

“Our military officials are of the opinion that the deployment of US aircraft carriers near our region, which makes them accessible, is not a strong point for the US. Rather, it makes them more vulnerable to possible strikes,” Mr Amirabdollahian said.

“The war has already expanded in the region,” he added. “The fact that the Yemeni army [Iran-backed Houthi movement]...attacks the occupied lands with missiles and drones means the war has begun to expand. The fact that Hizbullah is fighting with a third of the Israeli army shows the war has expanded.”

Gaza, home to 2.3mn people, has been enduring a devastating humanitarian crisis since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’ assault on on October 7th that killed 1,200 people.

Iran has been calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. But Iranian analysts in Tehran have noted that the war has already created diplomatic opportunities for the country, helping to lessen its political isolation abroad.

Palestinian militias had “never” asked Iran to enter into the war, Mr Amirabdollahian said.

“They have everything, and they produce missiles and drones themselves. Palestinian resistance groups have the capability to produce the military equipment they need inside Palestine,” he said.

He did not rule out the possibility of a protracted conflict, saying the “real confrontation” in the Hamas-Israel war had only begun in recent days. Should the war drag on, it could benefit militant groups that fight guerrilla-style, rather than Israel with its conventional army, he argued. - Financial Times Limited