Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s announcement that his country was ready to ease tensions with Israel sparked a heated debate, even after the government denied the statements.
“We’re willing to put all our weapons aside so long as Israel is willing to do the same,” Pezeshkian said according to a voice recording attributed to him.
“We’re not seeking to destabilize the region,” he told reporters ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York, said Bloomberg.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly denied that the president had made the statements.
Araghchi blamed a “hostile” television outlet – which he did not name – for seeking to stoke tensions over Pezeshkian’s comments.
He told state television on Tuesday: “Look at Pezeshkian’s statements. They have revolved around condemning the Israeli crimes and supporting the Resistance Axis.”
“Supporting the Resistance Axis is one of the foundations of our foreign policy,” he declared.
A government statement had also earlier sought to deny the remarks. “We would like to clarify that the statements were not at all made by the president. Rather, he condemned Israel’s crimes in Gaza and Lebanon,” it stressed.
The Fars news agency, however, confirmed that the president had indeed made the statements.
Later on Tuesday, Pezeshkian cast doubt on Hezbollah’s ability to confront Israel alone.
“Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, by European countries and the United States,” Pezeshkian said in an interview with CNN translated from Farsi to English.
He called on the international community to “not allow Lebanon to become another Gaza,” in response to a question if Iran would use its influence with Hezbollah to urge restraint.
Pezeshkian’s contradicted remarks by leading Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) member Mohsen Rezaei, who said Hezbollah boasts “unprecedented capabilities to innovate, change and adjust.”
Its human capacities are unmatched and will not run out in a hundred years, he said on Sunday.
