“Iran is – is supporting Russia… in Ukraine, and it’s supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region,” said President Joe Biden Friday of the Middle Eastern nation. “And we’ll continue to hold them accountable, I might add.”
This comment came days after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian delivered a threatening message on Al-Jazeera TV, according to MEMRI. He also said that Iran will not “watch from the sidelines,” and that expanding the scope of the war will become “unavoidable,” with huge losses to the U.S. and Israel if more civilians die.
Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization that receives funding from Iran, attacked Israel Oct. 7, killing around 1,300 people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then declared war, and fighting has continued since.
This week, a “blast ripped through the packed Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, killing hundreds of Palestinians and setting off dueling claims between Palestinian militants and the Israeli government over culpability are still raging,” according to CNN. Analysis from the outlet, as well as other experts, indicates the blast was not from Israelis and instead from a rocket fired from within Gaza.
However, in an X post from Tuesday, the day of the explosion, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Syria said “time’s up.”
According to Axios, Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based militant group also backed by Iran, has already fired rockets into Israel.
In addition to Biden’s comment about Iran supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attacks in Israel, Biden specifically said that Russia bought attack drones from Iran for attacks on Ukraine. This week, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions on Iran.
“Today, Iran holds the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, and its ballistic missile programs continue to pose a threat to countries across the region and beyond,” said the department. “In addition, Iran’s provision of missile and UAV technology to its partners and proxies endangers international stability and escalates regional tension.”