Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Israel wanted to drag the Middle East into a full-blown war by provoking Iran to join the nearly-old conflict between Israel and Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
We don’t want to cause instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible, said President Pezeshkian after he arrived in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said the news agency Reuters.
We want to live in peace; we don’t want war. It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict, said Pezeshkian.
When asked by reporters if Iran would intervene in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Pezeshkian said, “We will defend any group that is defending its rights and itself.” He did not elaborate.
Pezeshkian made his call to dialogue in the aftermath of Israel unleashing an intense wave of air strikes against Hezbollah on Monday, which made it the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly a year of conflict between Israel and the Tehran-backed group.
Nearly daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have displaced tens of thousands from towns and villages on both sides of the border. Israel said it would prefer a diplomatic solution that would have Hezbollah moved farther back from the border.
Hezbollah, which too says it wants to avoid an all-out war, said that only an end to the war in Gaza would stop the fighting.
Lebanon says Israeli airstrikes kill at least 492Israel says it launched airstrikes against Hezbollah on Monday, but the Lebanese government says those airstrikes kill 492.
The government of Beirut said that the airstrikes killed at least 492 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety.
