Netanyahu won’t survive ‘for 10 minutes’ without US support: Iran FM

TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not survive for 10 minutes” if Washington stops supporting the Israeli regime’s war in the Gaza Strip, noting the U.S. holds the key in halting the war on the coastal enclave.

“If the U.S. today stops its backing — logistical and weapons, political and media support — of the genocidal war launched by Israel, then I can assure you that Netanyahu will not survive for 10 minutes. So the key to solve the problem is in Washington before it is in Tel Aviv,” Amir Abdollahian told the ABC News on Tuesday.

Israel has been relentlessly pounding Gaza since October 7. Iran has been repeatedly warning about the spread of the war if the Tel Aviv regime does not stop its genocidal war in Gaza.

In the interview, Iran’s chief diplomat also warned that the risk of a “wider” conflict in the region has sharply increased due to the United States’ all-out support for Israel.

Though the United States claims it is opposed to the expansion of the war it has even blocked UN resolutions calling on Israel to stop the war in Gaza for humanitarian assistance.

“The scope of the war has become wider. This means that the danger of having a wider war in the region has gone up,” Amir Abdollahian said.

The foreign minister reiterated Tehran’s position that the Islamic Republic is seeking peace and stability in the region, saying, “Nobody is going to benefit from any war. We believe that the solution is never war.”

Israeli has so far killed at least 25,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza. 110 days of war on Gaza has caused indescribable sufferings in the enclave that houses 2.3 million population.

The Palestinian NGO Network said on Wednesday that people in northern Gaza are living in “catastrophic and inhumane conditions” after they ran out of basic food supplies.

The risk of death from starvation threatens about half a million people in Gaza City and elsewhere in the north who refused to leave their homes despite the destruction caused by Israeli bombing, the NGO said, according to Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the civil defense team in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday that the absence of primary medical aid supplies has led to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians.

It also pointed out lives and safety of children in shelter centers are threatened because of the cold weather and prevailing poor conditions.

The policy of targeting populated centers continues on a daily basis in the Gaza City area and elsewhere in the north, the emergency services added.

(TEHRAN TIMES)