Iran Makes Ominous Threat to US

Iran has stepped up its fiery rhetoric towards the United States and the West amid concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could spill over into the wider region.

Tehran gives moral and financial support to Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip and whose militants attacked southern Israel, killing over 1,400 people and taking 200 hostages, according to the Associated Press. Israel conducted a bombing campaign in Gaza which local officials say has killed at least 2,800, Reuters reported.

The members of the "Axis of Resistance," an informal anti-Israel, anti-Western and anti-Saudi alliance between Iran and regional militant groups, have outlined their thresholds for intervening in the war which included Tehran only intervening if Israel attacked Iran.

But after the U.S. deployed two aircraft carriers and supporting ships to the eastern Mediterranean in a warning to Tehran and ahead of a visit to Israel by President Joe Biden, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's adviser, Mohammad-Javad Larijani said any U.S. military intervention on behalf of Israel "would be a strategic mistake."

He told Iranian television it would mean that the U.S. would become a "legitimate target for the resistance fighters in the entire region" and that "the war will not be limited to Gaza."

Larijani also said resistance forces have "better opportunities" elsewhere in the region compared to Gaza and he predicted "in the near future, America's presence in Syria and Iraq will be very costly for them," according to a translation of his interview by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

A message posted on social media by Iran's broadcaster has spurred speculation about what role Tehran might play in the unfolding Israel-Hamas war.

The open-source intelligence monitor OSINTdefender wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that "The Official International Broadcasting Radio Network of Iran" had posted that "the Victory of God is near."

Another social media user translated it as "Indeed, the victory of Allah is near" or "Surely, God's victory is close," although others disputed this translation.

Social media users noted that this followed a warning by Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian of "pre-emptive action" by Tehran-backed groups.

Amirabdollahian had told Iranian television that "leaders of the Resistance will not allow the Zionist regime to take any action in Gaza" according to Reuters, adding that "all options are open" and that Israel's siege of Gaza is making a multi-front war "increasingly more probable."

However, the Iranian regime continues to signal it is not willing to enter a direct conflict with Israel. Tehran's mission to the United Nations has said Iran would not intervene if Israel refrains from attacking Iranian territory, interests, and nationals.

The Institute for the Study of War said on Monday that Tehran would prefer to provide "material and financial support to its proxies" to direct involvement. The think tank noted that Axis of Resistance elements are preparing for the war to expand into a regional conflict with Iranian-backed militants being deployed to southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria.

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