Iran conveyed to its Arab and regional neighbors that they would face retaliation if US or Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic used their territory or air space, the Wall Street Journal reported citing Arab officials.
The warnings could mean any escalation to flaring Iranian-Israeli tensions could draw in other countries in the critical oil-exporting region.
"Iran has warned it would respond with devastating hits on Israel’s civilian infrastructure, and would retaliate against any Arab state that facilitated the attack," the daily reported.
Some US allies in the region have conveyed to Washington that they disapprove of Israeli or American use of their airspace for any attack on Iran or having their land used as a launchpad for any strike, the paper added, citing US defense officials.
Israel has vowed a painful retaliation for an Oct. 1 Iranian attack with nearly 200 ballistic missiles, while the United States has publicly urged its ally in the region to carry out a proportional response that avoids nuclear and oil sites.
Arab states astride the Persian Gulf including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have refused to let Israel use their air space in any attack, Reuters reported on Wednesday citing Arab officials.
The US allies are lobbying Washington to prevent Israel from striking oil facilities in Iran for fear that their own oil infrastructure would be hit in a counterattack.
Much of the oil market's spare capacity lies with Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has had a political rapprochement with Tehran since 2023 which has helped ease regional tensions, but relations remain strained.
Saudi Arabia has been wary of an Iranian strike on its oil facilities since a 2019 attack on its key refinery at Abqaiq briefly shut down more than 5% of global oil supply. Iran denied involvement.
Addressing a Security Council meeting on the Middle East, Ambassador Danny Danon warned Iran to get its “bloodstained hands off Lebanon.”
During the speech, Danon pointed his finger directly at Iran’s UN representative - figuratively and physically.
The Iranian ambassador sat and listened. In previous Security Council meetings, Iran used to exit the room as soon as Israel took the stage. This time - they didn't.
Danon’s focus was on painting a picture where Lebanon could be an ally of Israel – and Iran as their common adversary.
“Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese, not to the Iranians!” he said.
He referred to Lebanon as a hostage of Iran-backed Hezbollah and urged its people to reclaim their sovereignty.
The Israeli ambassador also emphasized that his country does not seek to remain in Lebanon but is there to push Hezbollah away from the northern border to ensure the return of nearly 70,000 residents who became refugees in Israel after October 7.
Jonathan Harounoff, an international spokesperson for the Israeli mission to the United Nations, told Iran International that “Israel is not at war with Lebanon. It does not seek war with Lebanon."
The Israeli military has in recent weeks been launching multiple airstrikes against Hezbollah’s positions, killing the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and almost all of its other commanders. However, there seems to be no end to the attacks in sight.
Twenty-two people were killed and 117 injured in the latest Israeli airstrikes in Beirut near a Shia area Thursday evening local time, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The apparent target was Wafiq Safa, Hassan Nasrallah’s brother-in-law and one of Hezbollah’s high-ranking security officials, but that has yet to be confirmed.
Israel's military said its troops opened fire near a UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon after instructing UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces on Thursday morning.
Israel repeatedly says it targets military capabilities and militants in Lebanon, taking steps to mitigate risk of harms to civilians, accusing Hezbollah - as it does with Hamas - of hiding among civilians.
Israel’s military said on Thursday it uncovered a tunnel that crossed into Israel from Lebanon, finding weapons allegedly stored by Hezbollah in southern Lebanese villages. Danon said the findings support what Israeli security forces have been saying for months of a plan for Hezbollah to allegedly carry out another Oct 7 attack in the north of Israel.
Lebanon’s UN representative, Hadi Hachem, accused Israel of violating the blue line, saying it contravened resolution 1701, and that civilians, historical sites and a water station were recently targeted.
“This is a clear aggression of an independent, sovereign state,” said Hachem.
Hachem made no mention of Iran, and said only diplomatic solutions would be the right path forward, calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Israel's representative responded that Hezbollah brought Lebanon into the conflict, saying their silence has forced Israel's hand. Danon even encouraged Lebanon's representative to come sit next to him. Hachem was seated indirectly next to the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of Hamas, who launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and holding hundreds hostage.
The future of Lebanon, Danon said, must be one where there is no Hezbollah in place.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said now is the time for the Lebanese army to guard Lebanon against Hezbollah.
"While it may be fashionable to frame Israel’s pushback against Hezbollah as part of a third Lebanon war, the comment by Ambassador Danon is instructive. The occupying power in Lebanon is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which not only benefitted for so many years from using Lebanon as a forward operating base against Israel, but now is intent on wrecking it rather than call its proxy Hezbollah to stand down," said Taleblu.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeed Iravani, spoke of destruction in Gaza, and also spent time eulogizing Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah.
He said he was a “critical factor for peace and stability in Lebanon” and said he was the “best remaining hope for advancing the ceasefire process."
Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike in Beirut on September 27.
Israeli forces have also killed his would-be successors, according to Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
