Iran’s Raisi Says Israeli Actions ‘May Force Everyone’ to Act

A handout picture provided by Iran's Presidency on October 28, 2023, shows Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during an interview with the Qatari state-owned news television network Al-Jazeera in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Presidency / AFP)
A handout picture provided by Iran's Presidency on October 28, 2023, shows Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during an interview with the Qatari state-owned news television network Al-Jazeera in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Presidency / AFP)
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Iran’s Raisi Says Israeli Actions ‘May Force Everyone’ to Act

A handout picture provided by Iran's Presidency on October 28, 2023, shows Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during an interview with the Qatari state-owned news television network Al-Jazeera in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Presidency / AFP)
A handout picture provided by Iran's Presidency on October 28, 2023, shows Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during an interview with the Qatari state-owned news television network Al-Jazeera in Tehran. (Photo by Handout / Iranian Presidency / AFP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday said Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza "may force everyone" to act in the latest warning issued by Tehran since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Israel has been pounding the tiny Palestinian territory since Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7 and, according to Israeli officials, killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Since then, more than 8,000 people have been killed, half of them children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, an impoverished strip of land which is home to 2.4 million people.

"The crimes of the Zionist regime have crossed the red lines, and this may force everyone to take action," Raisi said on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

"Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel," he said.

"The US sent messages to the Axis of Resistance but received a clear response on the battlefield," he said, using a term often used by Iranian officials to refer to Iran and its allies like Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthi militias and other Shiite forces in Iraq and Syria.

Although it was not immediately clear what he was referring to, there have been a string of attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria as well as increasing exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon border since the Gaza conflict began.

Iran, which financially and militarily backs Hamas, hailed the October 7 attacks as a "success".

But it has insisted it was not involved in the onslaught, during which 230 people were also taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

"Iran considers it its duty to support the resistance groups, but ... the resistance groups are independent in their opinion, decision, and action," the Iranian president said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, according to excerpts released by state news agency IRNA.

"The United States knows very well our current capabilities and knows that they are impossible to overcome," he said.



EU’s Borrell Reiterates Call for Ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon

 (L-R) Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, British Secretary of State for Defense John Healey, Japan's Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani, Italy's Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, Canada's Minister of National Defense Bill Blair, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pose for a family photo at the G7 Ministers' Meeting on defence in Naples, Italy, 19 October 2024. (EPA)
(L-R) Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, British Secretary of State for Defense John Healey, Japan's Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani, Italy's Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, Canada's Minister of National Defense Bill Blair, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pose for a family photo at the G7 Ministers' Meeting on defence in Naples, Italy, 19 October 2024. (EPA)
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EU’s Borrell Reiterates Call for Ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon

 (L-R) Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, British Secretary of State for Defense John Healey, Japan's Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani, Italy's Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, Canada's Minister of National Defense Bill Blair, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pose for a family photo at the G7 Ministers' Meeting on defence in Naples, Italy, 19 October 2024. (EPA)
(L-R) Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, French Minister of Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, British Secretary of State for Defense John Healey, Japan's Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani, Italy's Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, Canada's Minister of National Defense Bill Blair, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pose for a family photo at the G7 Ministers' Meeting on defence in Naples, Italy, 19 October 2024. (EPA)

Defense ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy democracies kicked off their meeting on Saturday with host country Italy warning the global security framework is growing increasingly precarious due to competing visions of the world.

The EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and the freeing of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, saying Israel’s killing of its leader, Yahya Sinawar, should be seized as an opportunity for the cessation of hostilities.

Borrell also urged respect for the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, which were recently targeted by Israel.

He told reporters the morning session mainly focused on the Middle East, and said the UN mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, could be reviewed but it would be up to the UN Security Council to make decisions on its future.

"Some of the members of this (G7) meeting are important members of the Security Council too," Borrell said.

Italy is a major contributor to UNIFIL which is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel. Israeli attacks have angered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited Lebanon and Jordan on Friday.

The G7 gathering marks the group's first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense and comes a few days after Israeli forces killed Sinwar, whose death some Western leaders said raised the chances of an end to the conflict in Gaza.

Italy holds the G7 rotating presidency for 2024 as the West also grapples with the Russian advance in Ukraine and China's military activities around Taiwan, as well as heightened tensions along the border of North and South Korea.

"The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the indeed critical situation in Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region, highlight a deteriorated security framework," Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in his opening speech.

Italian officials said Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov had joined colleagues in the southern Italian city of Naples, where a discussion on developments in his country is expected.

Warning that near term forecasts for global security "cannot be positive", Crosetto - a prominent member of Prime Minister Meloni's Brothers of Italy party - said tensions were fueled by a confrontation between "two different, perhaps incompatible visions of the world."

On the one side are the countries and organizations that believe in a world order based on international law, Crosetto said, while "on the other side, (there are) those who systematically disrespect democracy to pursue their objectives, including by a deliberate use of military force."

Before the meeting, Crosetto welcomed photographers holding a model of a tiny red animal horn, a symbol of good luck according to time-honored Neapolitan tradition.

Besides Italy, the G7 includes the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, with European Union and NATO representatives also attending the gathering in the southern Italian city.