Khamenei adviser says Iran will support Hezbollah ‘with all means’ in case of war with Israel

Follow the latest news on the war in Gaza live

One person killed in new Israeli army bombing of a town in southern Lebanon

2 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned that Tehran will support the Shiite militia party Hezbollah “with all means” if the Israeli army launches a large-scale offensive against the group in Lebanon.

Khamenei’s foreign affairs adviser, Kharrazi, told the Financial Times that Iran was “not interested” in a war breaking out in the Middle East and called on the United States to put pressure on Israel to prevent it, although he stressed that he would support Hezbollah in the event of a conflict.

“The entire Lebanese people, the Arab countries and the members of the ‘axis of resistance’ will support Lebanon against Israel,” he said, adding that “there would be a possibility of the war spreading to the entire region, in which all countries, including Iran, would be involved.”

“In this situation, we would have no choice but to support Hezbollah with all means,” said Kharrazi, who insisted that “the expansion of the war is not in anyone’s interest, not even Iran or the United States,” amid the resurgence of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon.

Kharrazi’s remarks came just a day after Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani warned Israel against “any new mistake” in Lebanon, adding that the Israeli government “must know that any new mistake in Lebanon will create new conditions at the regional level that will be detrimental to the Zionists.”

At least one person was also killed on Tuesday in a bombing carried out by the Israeli army against the surroundings of a mosque located in the town of Bustane, near Tyre (south), according to the Lebanese newspaper ‘L’Orient-Le Jour’.

The Israeli army and Hezbollah, which has significant political clout in Lebanon, have been engaged in a series of clashes since October 8, a day after the attacks on Israeli territory by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other Palestinian factions, which left nearly 1,200 dead and some 240 kidnapped.

Tensions have been rising in recent weeks, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warning that the Israeli army is “prepared for a very powerful action” on the border with Lebanon, while the army itself claims to have a plan ready for this. For his part, Hezbollah’s number two, Naim Qassem, said that an expansion of the conflict would lead to “devastation and destruction” in Israel.