“We don't really want this conflict to spread out. Actually, we're advising everybody and encouraging them to move toward the stopping of war crimes as soon as possible,” Amirabdollahian said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) in New York, which was published on its website on Friday.
“But you know, the situation remains complicated,” the foreign minister warned. “It's difficult for our region to tolerate the fact that 7,000 civilians have been killed as the result of the bombardments of the Israeli regime. This is the image that we're now seeing in the region and because of the continuation of crimes of the Israeli regime, the whole region has been turned into a powder keg.”
When asked if Iran encourages its allies to show restraint, the Iranian foreign minister replied, “They decide for themselves. At any moment, anything can happen.”
However, Amirabdollahian added that the Islamic Republic encourages the United States to end its “absolute total support of the Israeli regime.”
Despite the unwavering US military and political support, Iran’s top diplomat said information gathered from the region indicates that “both the security and political systems of Israel have totally collapsed.”
“The Israeli citizens have no trust whatsoever in [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his security and political system. Right now, the only thing functional in Israel is their war machine that is also being run and controlled and managed by the US,” he said.
Amirabdollahian pointed to his recent visit, where he discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with regional and resistance leaders, and said, “I believe that if this situation continues and women and children and civilians are still killed in Gaza and the West Bank, anything will be possible.”
“They have their finger on the trigger,” he said of the resistance groups.
Regarding Iran’s support to Hamas, Amirabdollahian said that the Islamic Republic considers Hamas a “Palestinian liberation movement” that is fighting the Israeli occupiers according to international laws.
“Iran has never approved the killing of civilians, but we do have our political support for the liberation movement so that the occupied territories will be freed. Therefore, our support is only political,” the foreign minister stressed.
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