Iran foreign minister warns of ‘terrible’ days ahead for Israel

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned of “terrible” days to come for Israel in a call with his Qatar counterpart, according to Iranian pro-regime media.

The two men discussed the war in Gaza, Fars News and Tasnim News reported. Tehran and Doha have excellent ties; Iran’s foreign minister has traveled to Qatar to meet Hamas leaders over the last two months in the wake of the Hamas attack and massacre of more than 1,200 people in Israel on October 7.

According to Iranian media, Iran’s foreign minister discussed the West Bank and Gaza with the Qataris. He also discussed the “Zionist aggression” that Tehran has slammed numerous times. Iran backs proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen and has sought to inflame the West Bank.

“Condemning the Israeli regime’s crimes against women and children in Gaza and the West Bank, the foreign ministers called for an immediate stop to war crimes, genocide, and clear violations of international laws by the Israeli regime through the international community’s immediate action,” the Iranian media reports said.

They also repeated calls for humanitarian aid. The foreign ministers also backed the UN secretary-general’s calls for increased action regarding Gaza. “In this telephone conversation, Amir Abdollahian said that the Islamic resistance has so far responded with strength to the aggression of the Israeli regime, and said that with this trend, the coming days will be very terrible for the Israeli regime,” Fars News said.

Middle East could become more tense

Iran continued to warn that the region could become more “tense” and there will be “reactions” if the war continues. The Islamic Republic has used this threat continually, and has also been responsible for the current tensions and has backed Hamas in its war against Israel.

Iran also helped release Thai hostages from Gaza through talks with Thailand and Hamas, illustrating Tehran’s influence over the Gaza-based terrorist group controlling the coastal enclave. Qatar hosts Hamas leaders and also mediated the hostage deal that led to a pause in fighting on November 24, which ended on December 1.

It is not clear if the Iranian threats regarding “terrible” things are an escalation. The Iran-backed Houthis escalated attacks this week as well as there having been additional threats from Syria.

Iranian pro-regime media has highlighted threats to Israel from Syria’s Dara’a province and has also discussed new Iranian-backed attacks on US forces in Syria. Iran’s Tasnim News also covered the recent Houthi threats against Israel and the missile attack on Wednesday in which Israel shot down a Houthi missile using the Arrow air defense system.

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.