(Al Jazeera Media Network) Iran has never sought war in the region, the country’s foreign minister has said on a visit to Lebanon to discuss Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact on regional security.
“Iran and Lebanon confirm that war is not the solution, and that we absolutely never sought to expand it,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian said at a news conference alongside Abdallah Bou Habib, Lebanon’s foreign minister, in Beirut on Saturday.
However, he threatened that any widespread attack by Israel on Lebanon would be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “last day”.
His visit to Beirut came as the United States and Israel have continued to blame Iran and its aligned armed groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen for escalating tensions in the region via attacks on US and Israeli targets.
“After months of aggression by the Zionist regime in Gaza and the West Bank, Tel Aviv has not achieved any of its stated goals,” Amir-abdollahian told reporters.
“The continuation of America’s support for the Zionist regime and for Netanyahu will have no results but a final defeat.”
During his visit, the Iranian diplomat met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaker of Lebanon’s Parliament, Ziad Nakhale, the secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and some Hamas officials. He also met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
After his meetings in Lebanon, Amir-abdollahian is scheduled to visit the Syrian capital Damascus, where Iran allegedly wields influence over other groups. He is then due to head to Qatar, which has been the main mediator between Israel and Hamas.
Some political analysts viewed the Iranian foreign minister’s trip to Lebanon and other regional countries as a way of influencing the outcome of negotiations on the Gaza war.
Iran was not represented in Saudi Arabia at a meeting on Thursday, where ministers from Arab nations discussed initiatives for Gaza after the war ends.
“Interestingly, the exclusion of Iran and inclusion of Qatar is something for us to take note of because the Saudis were saying that this is an Arab problem that requires Arab solutions. Iran, of course, wants to have a say in what transpires once the war is over,” Mehran Kamrava, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera.
On Saturday, Amir-abdollahian said a political solution was the only way to end the Gaza conflict, and that Tehran was in talks with Riyadh on the issue.
