Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday accused the US and its allies of backing the exploding pagers attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria.
“Using devices, made for welfare of human beings, as a tool for assassination and annihilation” of those who don’t hold the same views of the US, Israel and the West is “an indication of the collapse of humanity as well domination of savagery and barbarism,” the website of the president quoted him as saying.
“The incident once again showed that western nations and Americans fully support crime, killings and blind assassinations by the Zionist regime, in practice,” Pezeshkian added.
Iran is the chief supporter of Hezbollah. Many of the group’s fighters were killed and injured in Tuesday’s explosions.
Iran has already sent a group of Iranian medics to Lebanon to help victims of the explosions.
An American official said Israel briefed the United States on Tuesday after the attack, in which small amounts of explosive hidden in the pagers were detonated. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.
The sophisticated apparently remote attack renewed fears that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could spill into a wider regional conflict.
Hamas' ally Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged fire nearly daily since Oct. 8.
