Iran threatens Israel as diplomats try to keep tensions with Hezbollah from war outbreak

Iran has threatened an “obliterating war” if Israel launches a full-scale attack in Lebanon, as diplomats work to prevent tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, from escalating into an all-out conflict.

In a post on the social platform X late Friday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said that “all options,” including the involvement of Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East, “are on the table.” Chief among those groups is Hezbollah, a powerful militia that dominates southern Lebanon.

At the same time, Iran dismissed warnings from Israeli officials that Israel could invade Lebanon as “psychological warfare.”

Enemies for decades, Israel and Hezbollah have frequently exchanged fire along Israel’s northern border. Since the war in the Gaza Strip began last October, Hezbollah and the Israeli military have intensified cross-border strikes. Israeli officials have warned for months that Israel might invade Lebanon if Hezbollah did not pull its forces back from the border area. Hezbollah has also threatened to launch an incursion into Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with Biden administration officials in Washington this past week, in large measure to discuss friction along the Lebanon border.

U.S. officials are keen to avoid an escalation in which Iran and Israel again directly exchange blows, following back-and-forth aerial attacks in April. Political analysts say that Iran appears to want to avoid a direct confrontation as well.

During his visit to Washington, Gallant told U.S. officials that Israel also did not want a full-scale war with Hezbollah, but that it was prepared to hit the group hard if provoked.

On Thursday, the State Department issued an advisory again warning Americans not to travel to Lebanon, emphasizing that Lebanon’s government “cannot guarantee the protection of U.S. citizens against sudden outbreaks of violence and armed conflict.”

Analysts and officials have said that a halt to the fighting in Gaza would be the surest way to defuse the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.