IRAN SAYS IT WON’T SEND FORCES TO LEBANON OR GAZA TO FIGHT ISRAEL

Mon 30 September 2024:

Iran will not deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel, its foreign ministry said on Monday, as Israeli strikes target its allies in the region.

“There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression.”

Israel has in recent days been mounting heavy airstrikes in Lebanon against the so-called “axis of resistance,” a network of Iran-aligned militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

In this photo released on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani speaks in Tehran, Iran. Kanaani denied on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, that Tehran was involved in the assault on author Salman Rushdie, in remarks that were the country's first public comments on the attack. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani. (AP)

An Israeli strike on Beirut Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that has been armed and financed by the Islamic Republic for years.

“We have not received any request in this regard from any side, on the contrary, we are informed and are sure that they do not need the help of our forces,” Kanani told reporters in Tehran.

Kanani nonetheless vowed that Israel “will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces.”

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Also on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah’s office in Tehran “to pay tribute” to Nasrallah, according to the government’s website.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, has vowed that Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain,” and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said it would bring about Israel’s “destruction.”

Iran has also vowed to avenge the killing of Abbas Nilforoushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who died alongside the Hezbollah leader.

-AFP

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