Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said the country cannot remain a spectator in Israel’s war against Hamas. At the same time, the U.S. is reiterating no outsiders should intervene in Israel’s conflict. The comments are a latest example of tensions rising as Iranian rhetoric is pushing back against U.S. warnings.
“If stopping the aggression against Gaza does not succeed, the expansion of the war fronts is not excluded and its possibility increases every hour,” Amir-Abdollahian told Al Jazeera. “The continued aggression and the absence of a political solution add fuel to the fire and things may get out of control.”
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Oct. 15, and was directly asked if there is a real risk that Iran intervenes.
“We don’t have some specific intelligence the threat is different today from yesterday,” Sullivan said. “The threat yesterday was real, the threat today is real. There is a risk of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north and of course Iran’s involvement. That is a risk and a risk we’ve been mindful of from the start.”
While the White House is acknowledging a potential risk, Iran’s top leaders have put it in simple terms. On Sunday, Amir-Abdollahian warned “the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger.”
Axios reported the foreign minister delivered a direct message to Israel over the weekend to warn Iran “would have no choice but to intervene” if Israel continues its retaliatory attack in Gaza against Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave all indication it would continue necessary military operations to exterminate Hamas.
Despite the threats coming from Iran’s foreign minister, a White House official told NBC that they “haven’t seen any specific indication that Iran is trying to deepen or widen the conflict.”
Sullivan said the U.S. has now sent two aircraft carriers — the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Eisenhower — into the eastern Mediterranean as a message of deterrence for anyone looking to escalate the conflict. Whether Iran believes the U.S. would respond militarily could be a determining factor in its choice to stay at bay or join the fight.
