Iran president says Hizbollah 'cannot stand alone' against Israel

TEHRAN — Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that its ally Hizbollah "cannot stand alone" against Israel which carried out its deadliest day of air strikes on Lebanon since 2006.

"Hizbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, by European countries and the United States," Pezeshkian said in an interview with CNN translated from Farsi to English.

He called on the international community to "not allow Lebanon to become another Gaza," in response to a question if Iran would use its influence with Hizbollah to urge restraint.

On Monday, nearly 500 people, including 35 children, were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, according to the country's health ministry.

The Israeli forces said it had hit about 1,600 Hizbollah targets on Monday, killing a "large number" of militants, and had carried out more on Tuesday morning.

Iran called on the UN Security Council to "take immediate action" against the "insane" Israeli escalation.

"Iran will NOT remain indifferent," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X late Monday.

"We stand with the people of Lebanon and Palestine."

The Israeli strikes came less than a week after coordinated sabotage attacks targeting Hizbollah's communication devices killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000. 

Iranian media blamed Israel for the apparent slide towards all-out war.

"The Zionist regime has pressed the all-out war button," said the ultraconservative Javan newspaper, while its rival Kayhan asked: "Has the big war begun?"

Government daily Iran warned "the region is on the verge of a massive explosion." Reformist newspaper Etemad said "peace in Lebanon is hanging by a thread".

Pezeshkian, who has been in New York for the annual UN General Assembly, accused Israel of warmongering.

"We know better than anyone that if a larger war erupts in the Middle East, it will benefit no one globally," Pezeshkian told journalists at a roundtable.

"It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict."

He said Iran had "never started a war in the last 100 years" and was "not looking to cause insecurity".

But he insisted that Iran "will never allow a country to force us into something and threaten our security and territorial integrity".