An adviser to Iran's supreme leader has warned that if Israel launches an all-out offensive against Hezbollah, it risks triggering a regional war in which Tehran and the axis of resistance will support the Lebanese armed movement by all means.
Kamal Harazi, a foreign affairs adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the Financial Times that the Islamic Republic is not interested in a regional war and called on the US to put pressure on Israel to prevent further escalation.
When asked if Iran would support Hezbollah, its most important and powerful proxy, militarily in the event of a full-scale conflict, Harazi indicated that the entire Lebanese people, Arab countries and members of the axis of resistance would support Lebanon against Israel. According to him, there is a chance of expanding the war to the entire region, in which all parties will be involved. According to the words, in such a situation, Iran will have no choice but to support Hezbollah by all possible means.
Expanding the war is not in anyone's interest, neither Iran nor the US, he stressed. Tensions between Iran, the US and Israel have risen since the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza, with Iran-backed armed groups launching attacks against the Jewish state.
Hezbollah exchanges almost daily cross-border fire with Israel, Houthi rebels in Yemen have hit ships in the Red Sea and fired drones and missiles at Israel, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria have attacked American troops and fired shells at Israel.
Iran and Israel also launched back-to-back missile attacks on each other in April - marking the first direct Iranian strike against Israel from its own soil. However, both sides tried to defuse tensions, with the respective strikes considered calibrated and causing limited damage. But fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified in recent weeks amid increasingly belligerent rhetoric from both camps. Iran's mission to the UN has warned of a "war of annihilation" if Israel launches an offensive against Hezbollah, noting that "all options" are on the table.
Another senior Iranian official told the FT that Iran was unlikely to target Israel directly. Instead, he said, he would mobilize the network of Iranian-backed armed groups across the region that make up the axis of resistance.
Amidst this, Iran is electing a new president after Ibrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. No winner was chosen in the first round. In the runoff, voters will choose between reformist Massoud Pezeshkian, who wants to re-engage with the West to secure sanctions relief, including those imposed over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and Saeed Jalili, an ideological hardliner hostile to the US.
According to Harazi, regardless of who won the presidential elections, the general foreign policy strategy defined by Khamenei will remain the same. According to him, the elections will create a chance for dialogue between Iran and the West. But in order to achieve this, the Western countries will have to withdraw from the current policies and engage in negotiations with Iran based on equal conditions and mutual respect, he explained.
The Islamic Republic would be willing to hold indirect talks with Washington over Tehran's nuclear program under a new government. Iran and the West have been at an impasse since former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA (nuclear deal) in 2018 and imposed waves of sanctions on the republic.
Kharazi emphasized that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons. He pointed out that Ayatollah Khamenei issued a fatwa in 2003 prohibiting the development of a nuclear arsenal.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Harazi said Iran was not taking sides in the conflict and that it had sold drones to Russia before the war. He added that there is no obstacle between Iran and Russia for arms deals, stressing that Tehran is in talks to buy Russian fighter jets.