Iran says Gaza war scope will grow if truce doesn’t hold

An Israeli tank operates, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip. (Reuters)

• “We support whatever decision Hamas makes,” says Iranian FM

BEIRUT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Wednesday that the scope of the Gaza war would expand unless a truce between Israel and Hamas lasts, in an interview as he visited Beirut.
“If this ceasefire starts tomorrow, if it does not continue... the conditions in the region will not remain the same as before the ceasefire and the scope of the war will expand,” Amir-Abdollahian told the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television channel, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.
“We do not seek to expand the scope of the war,” he added, saying: “If the intensity of the war increases, every possibility is conceivable for the expansion of the scope of the war.”
Israel and Hamas said Wednesday they had agreed on a four-day truce in the Gaza war during which the Palestinian militants would free at least 50 of the hostages taken in their deadly October 7 attack.
In turn, Israel would release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners and allow more humanitarian aid into the coastal territory after more than six weeks of bombardment, heavy fighting and a crippling siege.
Amir-Abdollahian said Iran saw two options: “First, a humanitarian ceasefire that turns into a permanent ceasefire.”
“The second way is to threaten the Palestinian people, then the Palestinian people will decide for themselves,” he said, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu cannot fulfil his dream of destroying Hamas.”
“We support whatever decision Hamas makes,” he added in the interview, according to Fars.