Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

(JNS) — Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Muslims and the “resistance forces” will “lose patience” if Israel continues to prosecute its war against the Hamas terror group.

“If these [Israeli] crimes continue, the Muslims will lose patience. The resistance forces will lose their patience. No one will be able to stop them at that point…. This is a reality,” Khemanei said in a video address later posted to X.

In separate posts, Khamenei called Israel an “evil monster” and described the “Palestine and Gaza” as “manifestations of Islam’s power.” He added that “standing against the Zionist regime is a duty” of all Muslims.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned on Friday that Tehran’s other terror proxies would join the war if Israel continues to attack Hamas terror assets in Gaza.

“Some Western officials have questioned if there is an intention to open a new front against the Zionist entity. Of course, in light of the continuation of these circumstances that are war crimes,” Amir-Abdollahian told journalists in Beirut.

“The continuation of war crimes against Palestine and Gaza will receive a response from the rest of the Axis. And naturally, the Zionist entity and its supporters will be responsible for the consequences of that,” he added.

The “Axis of Resistance” refers to Hezbollah, Hamas and other Iranian-backed terror groups along Israel’s borders.

The Islamic Republic’s top diplomat also met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The terror group subsequently announced it was ready to join Hamas in the war against Israel.

“We are fully prepared, and when the time comes for action, we will take it,” Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem told the terror group’s supporters in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital.

U.S. reactions to Iran

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has introduced bill S-301, which aims “to reinstate certain sanctions imposed with respect to Iran.” The bill calls for returning any sanctions “that were waived, suspended, reduced or otherwise relieved pursuant to an agreement between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, including any waiver that is the subject of the document entitled ‘Waiver of Sanctions with Respect to the Transfer of Funds from the Republic of Korea to Qatar’ and transmitted to Congress on September 11, 2023.”

Cotton has also recently proposed deporting any foreign nationals who support Hamas and sending in U.S. special forces to recover American hostages.

Last week, the Biden administration reached a “quiet understanding” with Qatar to freeze the scheduled transfer of $6 billion to Iran in exchange for five Americans released by Tehran on Sept. 18.

The American move comes “as the U.S. and Israel scrutinize Iran’s role in funding and training Hamas,” CBS News reported.

Hamas and Hezbollah leaders have praised the Islamic Republic for its assistance in the attack, openly acknowledging that Iranian security officials helped plan and gave the go-ahead for Hamas’s devastating Oct. 7 cross-border assault that killed 1,400 Israelis.