Skip to main content

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief says group concerned with confronting US threat against Iran

1 min Mena Today

The leader of Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement, Naim Qassem, said on Monday that his group was concerned about confronting Washington's threat against Iran, particularly any threat against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem © Al Manar TV

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem © Al Manar TV

The leader of Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement, Naim Qassem, said on Monday that his group was concerned about confronting Washington's threat against Iran, particularly any threat against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have grown following a severe crackdown on protests across Iran in which thousands were killed in the past few weeks, which President Donald Trump said could lead to a U.S. response. Tehran said any attack on Khamenei would trigger a "holy war".

"We are concerned with what is happening and targeted by potential aggression. We are determined to defend ourselves. We will choose in due course how to act, whether to intervene or not... but we are not neutral," Qassem said in a televised address.

The Hezbollah leader said mediators had told the group the U.S. and Israel were considering hitting it in case there was an attack on Iran, saying that a war on Iran could ignite the entire region this time.

Hezbollah was severely weakened in 2024 during cross border fighting with Israel that Hezbollah said was in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 2024, but both sides have traded accusations of violations.

Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily

Related

Strait of Hormuz

Draft Iranian bill targets US, Israeli shipping in Hormuz

An Iranian parliamentary committee is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other "hostile" vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a lawmaker.

Iran

Trump's Iran trap: A war with no exit

With President Donald Trump’s war against Iran now in its sixth month, this week's flurry of threats and diplomacy has underscored the ever-tighter bind he finds himself in as he tries to extricate the U.S. from an unpopular conflict he originally claimed would last just weeks.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Mena banner 4

To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.

  • Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.