Iran warns Israel of regional escalation if 'aggressions do not stop'

DUBAI: Iran warned Israel of escalation if it failed to end aggressions against Palestinians, with its foreign minister saying other parties in the region were ready to act, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

"If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger," Hossein Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to "demolish Hamas" as his military prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in search of Islamist militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world.


"The responsibility for the possible opening of new fronts of resistance in the region and any escalation of today's war directly falls on the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel)," Amirabdollahian said.

Amirabdollahian met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday in Qatar, where they discussed the Palestinian militant group's deadly attack in Israel "and agreed to continue cooperation" to achieve the group's goals, the Iran-backed Hamas said in a statement.

Earlier, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi urged France to help "prevent oppression" of Palestinians in a phone call with his counterpart Emmanuel Macron.