Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday warned Israel against attacking Lebanon as tensions soar over a deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights blamed on Tehran-backed Hezbollah.
“The Zionist regime (Israel) will make a great mistake with heavy consequences if it attacks Lebanon,” Pezeshkian said during a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Iranian president’s website.
Pezeshkian assumed official responsibilities on Sunday after official endorsement from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, and is to be sworn into parliament on Tuesday.
Israel vowed to hit back after the strike on a football field in Majdal Shams, a Druze Arab town in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, killed 12 youths on Saturday.
Israel accused Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement of being responsible for the strike, which the militant group denies.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israel in support of Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
Pezeshkian, in his phone call with Macron, accused Israel of violating “all the international frameworks and laws” in its “crimes” against Palestinians.