Attacks by Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East will continue until Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza ends, Tehran's top diplomat threatened on Wednesday, as regional tensions threaten to escalate.
"If the genocide in Gaza stops, it will bring an end to other crises and attacks in the region," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Abdollahian's remarks echo the declared goals of individual armed organizations within Iran's influence network.
Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza, the militant group Hezbollah has engaged in daily skirmishes with Israeli soldiers on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Houthi rebels have started a series of strikes on commercial ships and Western military boats in the Red Sea, a crucial international trade route.
And Iranian-backed troops in Iraq and Syria have conducted hundreds of attacks intended at US military positions in those countries, leading to several close calls.
On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated for the first time that clashes at the Lebanon-Israel border, which have escalated in recent weeks, "would not end" until there is a truce in Gaza.
Iran stepped into the fray more directly earlier this week, firing ballistic missiles at what it claimed was a spy base for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad in Erbil, northern Iraq, in response to what it claimed were Israeli attacks that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders and Iranian resistance fighters.
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Iraq denied there were any Mossad bases in Erbil, and Israel has not commented on the strikes.
Iran also launched missile strikes in Syria and Pakistan against what it termed as terrorist groups responsible for fatal attacks inside Iran.
Pakistan vehemently criticized the Iranian bombings and warned that it would retaliate.
On Wednesday, Abdollahian stated that Iran had "very good relations" with Iraq and Pakistan, adding that "we have talked and agreed for several times on the necessity of fighting terrorism."
Confrontations in the Middle East have reached a fever pitch in recent days following US operations in Yemen aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities to target the key maritime lane.
The US also branded the Houthis as a terrorist organization on Wednesday.
The Houthis have maintained a defiant tone. "Our naval forces in the Red and Arabian Seas will continue to target Israeli ships associated with the enemy entity," Hizam al-Assad, a member of the Houthi political bureau, stated.
