Major escalation of the Israel-Hamas war ebbs closer as Iran warns it may be ‘forced’ to enter the conflict

• Iranian president said Israel ‘crossed the red lines’ with its bombardment of Gaza

A major escalation of the Israel-Hamas war came a step closer last night as Iran warned it may be ‘forced’ to enter the conflict.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi said Israel had ‘crossed the red lines’ with its bombardment of Gaza which ‘may force everyone to take action’.

His comments will further fracture relations between East and West amid growing concerns that Iran is assembling an ‘axis of terror’ to draw Europe and the US into the war.

Raisi wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘[The] Zionist regime’s crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action. Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel.’

In an apparent reference to recent rocket and drone attacks on American military bases in Syria and Iraq, he added: ‘The US sent messages to the Axis of Resistance but received a clear response on the battlefield.’

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (pictured) said Israel had ‘crossed the red lines’ with its bombardment of Gaza which ‘may force everyone to take action’

Raisi also claimed that Israeli forces which entered Gaza had been ‘defeated’ and were forced to retreat. However, there was no such withdrawal and clashes continued to intensify yesterday.

Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance includes several terror groups it funds and controls, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Since the Hamas attack on October 7 in which at least 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, Hezbollah has launched numerous missile attacks on northern Israel.

A United Nations peacekeeper was injured by mortar fire on Saturday night after two shells hit the mission’s base on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said: ‘Attacking UN peacekeepers is a crime, a violation of international law and must be condemned.

‘UNIFIL expresses serious concern over these attacks on our troops who are tirelessly working 24/7 to restore stability in southern Lebanon and de-escalate this perilous situation.’

Hezbollah has access to powerful long-range weapons which could strike all over Israel and potentially overwhelm its Iron Dome defence system.

Missiles are pictured launching in Iran’s central province of Isfahan 

READ MORE: Watching the fierce combat like spectators in a vast, bloodied colosseum, RICHARD PENDLEBURY sees Israel’s reckoning with Hamas blaze into life on the Gaza Strip border 

Last week the terror group released a photograph of its secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah meeting leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It said they had assessed ‘the international positions being taken’ and discussed ‘what the parties of the Axis of Resistance must do…to realise a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine’.

If Iran enters the war, it is likely the US and its allies will move to contain the threat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long warned that Iran’s nuclear programme poses a serious danger to the West.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly last month, he appeared to threaten Tehran with a nuclear attack if it continued to develop its own weapons.

He said: ‘Above all, Iran must face a credible nuclear threat. As long as I’m prime minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.’

His office later claimed he had intended to say ‘credible military threat’. Last week Russian president Vladimir Putin warned that the Israeli conflict could spread well beyond the Middle East as the Kremlin hosted a meeting between Iran and Hamas.

Israel called the summit ‘obscene’ and ‘an act of support of terrorism’.

Kasra Aarabi, of US pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran, said: ‘A new and looming axis of terror against the West, centred around the Iranian regime and Putin’s Russia, may very well be on the horizon.’

The UK and US sent naval task forces to the eastern Mediterranean two weeks ago in a bid to deter Hezbollah and Iran from becoming further involved.

Yesterday Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied his country had any involvement in the October 7 attack. He also told the CNN news channel that Tehran did not want the war to ‘spread out’ into a regional conflict.

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