Iran issues chilling threat to US over Israel war saying it will be 'hit hard'
Iran has issued a chilling threat to the United States, warning it will be "hit hard" if it does not implement a ceasefire in Gaza, according to state media.
The country's Defence Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani was quoted saying that America should "immediately stop the war". According to Tasnim news agency, Ashtiani said: "Our advice to the Americans is to immediately stop the war and implement a ceasefire, otherwise you will be hit hard."
Joe Biden has refused to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, even though the death toll among civilians passed 9,700 - with 3,900 children killed and another 1,250 missing, presumed buried under bombed buildings. Today, Israeli airstrikes bombed two refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip - and the US is now urging Israel to take a humanitarian pause from its relentless bombardment of Gaza.
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Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani warned the US will be 'hit hard' if it doesn't call for a ceasefireThe latest warning from Iran comes as the country's state-run IRNA news agency said the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The date of the meeting was not disclosed in the report on Sunday.
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According to IRNA, Khamenei praised the patience and endurance of the people of Gaza and emphasised Iran's policy in supporting the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas. Khamenei urged Islamic countries and international organisations to take serious actions in support of Gaza’s people.
Joe Biden has not called for a ceasefire (AFP via Getty Images)Israel's military last week accused Haniyeh, who lives in exile, of flying to Iran on a “private jet” as the people of Gaza suffer in a devastating Israeli offensive against Hamas. Israel accuses Iran of destabilizing the region by supporting proxies like Hamas and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a day after talks with Arab foreign ministers in neighbouring Jordan. Abbas, who has had no authority in Gaza since Hamas took over in 2007, said the Palestinian Authority would only assume control of Gaza as part of a "comprehensive political solution" establishing an independent state that would also take in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands Israel seized in the 1967 war.
Israeli tanks head towards the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel (AP)Meanwhile, Gaza today fell under its third total communications blackout since the start of the war. Palestinian communications company Paltel announced that all of its "communication and internet services" were down once again. Internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org confirmed that communications were curtailed across the besieged enclave.
Alp Toker, the group's executive director, said that the blackout was likely to be experienced by most residents as a total or near-total loss of connectivity. Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said the agency has lost communication with most of its team. The first Gaza outage lasted 36 hours and the second one for a few hours, complicating efforts to share events on the ground.
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