White House: The U.S. is Utilizing All Resources to Free Hostages Held by Hamas

On Thursday, the National Security Council of the White House responded to a question from the Persian section of Voice of America regarding Iran's proposal to play a role in the release of hostages held by Hamas, stating: "We are in discussions with our partners to free all hostages." The Iranian Foreign Minister, who is attending the United Nations General Assembly in response to the UN Secretary-General's call to address the situation of the war between Israel and Hamas in New York, said: "The Hamas movement and Palestinian resistance have announced their readiness to free civilian prisoners, and Iran is ready to play its role alongside Qatar and Turkey to assist in this matter. The international community also has a responsibility to free 6,000 Palestinian prisoners who are trapped in the prisons of the Zionist regime and must act on it." John Kirby, the National Security Council's Strategic Communications Coordinator, in response to Amir-Abdollahian's remarks, said: "I do not intend to publicly engage in ongoing negotiations here. We want to free these hostages, and we are in contact with our partners in the region to make this happen. We want all hostages to be freed, and obviously, we have a particular interest in the release of American hostages. However, we are calling for the release of all of them, and I don't think it would be beneficial for us to publicly comment on this process." Kirby also mentioned on Thursday regarding the issuance of a visa for the Iranian Foreign Minister to attend the UN General Assembly in New York that this visa is within the framework of the U.S. agreement as the host with the UN, and it is certainly a good opportunity for world officials to question Amir-Abdollahian about Tehran's continued support for groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. This senior official previously explained in his press conference today the warning from the U.S. President to the Islamic Republic regarding the failure to expand the scope of conflict between Israel and Hamas and the attacks by Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria against American forces, stating: "Our forces are there for a very important mission, which is to pursue ISIS, and the mission is not yet complete and continues, and we have previously responded strongly to attacks against them." Kirby continued: "The type, manner, and timing of our response are within the authority of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and he is the one who decides." According to some American officials, over twenty American soldiers have been injured as a result of attacks by Iran-backed groups on American bases in the past two weeks.