Araghchi: Israel seeks to expand war to exit Gaza quagmire; US complicit in Lebanon attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the Israeli regime is trying to expand war across the region as means of trying to get out of the quagmire it is facing in the Gaza Strip, where the regime has been waging a genocidal war for more than 11 months.

“The fact is that the Israeli regime has been caught in a quagmire in Gaza,” the top diplomat said in an interview.

“Despite having sought to destroy [the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement] Hamas with an army that has been armed to the teeth with the most advanced weapons, it has not been able to achieve its goal after a year,” he added.

Araghchi then pointed to the escalation of the regime’s aggression across the region, including against the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, following the launch of the Gaza war.

He cited the instance of the regime’s detonation of thousands of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkie radios that killed at least 39 people and wounded 3,000 others across Lebanon over Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hezbollah members and civilians killed, wounded in Lebanon pager explosions

Thousands of Lebanese resistance movement members and civilians have been killed or wounded after pagers exploded in different locations across the country on Tuesday.

He described such measures as “blind terrorism and crime against humanity,” which the regime was resorting to “out of frustration.”

“The Zionists assume that by expanding the battlefield, they can exit the deadlock [that they have come to face in Gaza],” he said, asserting, “We [however] are completely alert and would not fall into their trap.”

Araghchi, meanwhile, dismissed the United States allegations of its having been “unaware” of the Lebanon blasts in advance.

“In our view, this is not acceptable. One cannot believe claims that the Americans were not aware,” he said.

The official considered the US to be “largely complicit” in such atrocities through its arms, intelligence, and political support for the Israeli regime. “They (the Americans) cannot evade [responsibility for] these crimes,” he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Araghchi commented on the remarks that he had made back in August, in which he had announced the Islamic Republic’s willingness to manage tensions with the US.

FM: Iran aims to manage US tensions, rebuild EU ties if they drop hostility, lift sanctions

Araqchi announces Iran’s willingness to manage tensions with the US and restore relations with European countries if they stop their hostility.

“We have differences with the Americans, many of which are fundamental,” he said, citing the instances of Tehran’s opposition to Washington’s imperialist policies, military interventionism across many parts of the world, and its bullying attitude.

“On the other hand, they are opposed to Iran’s spirit of pursuing independence and esteem,” the official stated.

“Complete resolution of these differences is not possible, and is principally not feasible,” Araghchi noted.

“However, the cost [attributed to these differences] can be reduced,” he said, noting that the Foreign Ministry was obliged to look into the possible ways of realization of the objective through “honorable means.”

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