Foreign Ministry: There is no need to send auxiliary forces from Iran to Lebanon

Amid rising concerns in the region and the West about the consequences of the military crisis between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon following the death of the group's secretary-general, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that there is no need to send auxiliary and volunteer forces from Iran to Lebanon. Nasser Kanani stated on Tuesday, October 1, that Iran "believes that the nations and countries of the region, including Lebanon, have the necessary capability and authority" to "counter aggressions" and that "there is no need to send auxiliary and volunteer forces from Iran." He added in response to a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that "we have not received any requests from any party and we are confident that they (Hezbollah) do not need such humanitarian assistance." Hassan Nasrallah, who had held the secretary-general position of Hezbollah for 32 years during its four-decade existence, was killed on Friday evening, October 6, in an Israeli airstrike on the command headquarters of this force in Dahieh, Lebanon. Abbas Nilforushan, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Lebanon and Syria, and several other senior commanders and figures of Hezbollah who were present at that meeting were also killed. Israel has recently targeted nearly all senior commanders of Hezbollah, along with several political and prominent clerical figures associated with the group. In response to rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel, which led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents from northern Israeli cities, Israel has killed more than 500 field commanders of Hezbollah in the past year. This group has confirmed the deaths of these individuals. Hezbollah began its attacks on Israel immediately after the extremist group Hamas launched its offensive against Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union and is one of Tehran's allied groups in the region. The United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, while the European Union has placed its military branch on the blacklist but does not regard its political branch as terrorist. Hezbollah's political faction also has representatives in the Lebanese parliament. Over the past year, Israel has repeatedly called for Hezbollah not to tie its fate to Hamas in Gaza and to distance its militants from the northern Israeli border so that displaced Israeli citizens can return home safely. Hezbollah, a paramilitary group formed in Lebanon over four decades ago with the help of then-commanders of the IRGC, has also become a political party and controls a large part of the Shia-populated suburbs of southern Beirut and southern Lebanon near the northern border of Israel. After Hassan Nasrallah's death, groups of hardliners in the Islamic Republic of Iran have called for involvement in Hezbollah's war fronts. Beirut airport on Saturday refused to allow an Iranian aircraft to land after the Israeli army explicitly warned the airport that it would target it if a suspicious Iranian plane carrying weapons and personnel arrived. Iran Air, Iran's passenger airline, announced on October 1 that it would suspend all flights to Lebanon until "further notice." However, "volunteers" from Iran have suggested that they be sent to Lebanon via Syria. The spokesperson for the Tehran Foreign Ministry, in a press conference on October 1, referring to the killing of Abbas Nilforushan in the Israeli attack in Dahieh, stated that "none of the aggressive actions" by Israel that "are related to Iran will go unanswered" and that Iran "will take appropriate and decisive actions." Abbas Araqchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, stated on October 1 that the killing of Abbas Nilforushan "will not go unanswered." Mohammad Javad Zarif, the strategic deputy to Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, said on October 1 that Iran's response to the killing of Hassan Nasrallah is a matter that the system's leader will decide on and that a decision will "definitely" be made. Iran's lack of response to the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political office, in an attack attributed to Israel on July 31 this year in Tehran, despite a call for "blood vengeance" emphasized by Ali Khamenei in his message, has led to a wave of criticism and frustration among forces loyal to the Iranian regime. However, Nasser Kanani in the press conference on Tuesday in Tehran said, "The prolonged duration of some actions for response does not mean ignoring aggressive actions" and that "no aggressive action will be removed from our list, and we will act decisively." A senior American source told CNN that "the Biden administration is concerned that the Islamic Republic of Iran may seek to launch a military attack on Israel following Hassan Nasrallah's death." CNN added on October 1 that in light of this concern, military cooperation between the United States and Israel in defense plans for Israel and preventing attacks has been strengthened.