Iranian foreign minister says Palestinian groups 'intelligently calibrating pressure' on Israel

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN (AA) - Palestinian groups are intelligently calibrating pressure on Israel and its backers and many of their capacities remain inactivated, Iran's foreign minister told lawmakers on Sunday.

In a meeting with the parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the Gaza-based resistance groups are "intelligently mounting pressure" on Israel and its supporters, and Tel Aviv "lacks the strategy," commission's spokesman Abolfazl Amoee was quoted as saying by state media.

Iran's top diplomat was invited by the parliamentary commission to brief lawmakers on Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, which started after the Oct. 7 offensive by Palestinian group Hamas.

Echoing what he and other Iranian officials have frequently said in recent weeks, Amir-Abdollahian told the lawmakers that the US is "the most important supporter and partner" of Israel in the killing of Gazans, in Israel's war rooms and international forums.

He said the public opinion across the world is in favor of the people of Palestine and they "can no longer tolerate the crimes of Zionists" while emphasizing the need for immediate cease-fire in the besieged territory.

Amir-Abdollahian, according to the commission spokesman, said with the "continuation of the crimes" of Israel in Gaza, he envisages the possibility of the expansion of the scope of the conflict.

"While the resistance groups are cleverly mounting the pressure on Zionists and their supporters, there is a lot of unactivated capacity," he cited the top diplomat as saying, referring to the high morale of Gaza-based groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The meeting came as the death toll in the Gaza Strip continues to rise, now surpassing 12,300, mostly children and women.

Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian, have repeatedly warned against the expansion of the scope of war if Israel continues its indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

In a meeting with Martin Griffiths, the head of UN humanitarian operations, in Geneva on Wednesday, Iran's foreign minister called for an immediate halt to Israeli attacks against Gaza and noted that expansion of war will "only increase the costs for the US."

Meanwhile, in his remarks earlier on Sunday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated his call for severing ties with Israel for "at least a limited period."