“Of course, strategic actions involve high costs. Certainly, Hamas, which made the Zionist regime’s strategic defeat possible, knew that it would receive a harsh response from that regime. Of course, Palestinians are used to living with the killings and crimes of the regime. For every martyred Palestinian, dozens of young Palestinians take his place. They possess nothing but their lives, which are ready to sacrifice for their independence. Dr. Sayyed Kamal Kharrazi said in this interview.

The full text of this interview comes below:

Question: After the Al-Aqsa Storm operation, the leaders of the United States, Britain, Germany, and France visited the occupied territories. Are the purpose of these trips to show their solidarity with Israel, or do they contain a message for other countries?

Supporters of Israel, including the United States and European countries, are worried about being dragged into this war. While the Zionists are interested in expanding this war, the statesmen of these countries warn the leaders of Israel against the spread of the war, as well as its ground forces entering Gaza. By making these trips while supporting the regime politically, and providing it with weapons, they are trying to control its blind anger and prevent it from collapsing. They are now trapped by the illegitimate regime they had created. Therefore, the primary purpose of these trips is to control the anger of the Zionist regime and prevent the spread of war, so that they are not dragged into this conflict.

Question: Is the United States ready to participate directly in the war?

It depends on the upcoming developments. If the war spreads, their policy will naturally change, but in the current situation, the policy pursued by the allies of the Zionist regime is aimed at preventing the spread of war. The United States’ advice to Israel and others has been to prevent the spread of the war, because they are engaged in other issues, such as the Ukrainian war. At the same time, they have the challenge of the presidential election. Therefore, the spread of such a war is not in their interest.

Question: What methods have the Westerners used to support Israel’s aggressive actions in Gaza?

They support the continued aggressions of the Zionist regime in different ways. For example, in the United Nations, they veto any proposed resolution for a ceasefire. They opposed the Russian resolution at the Security Council and vetoed the Brazilian resolution. Therefore, at the political level and in the United Nations, they provide the utmost support to the Zionist regime. But they don’t find getting involved in this war in their interest.

Question: Does Israel have the ability to enter the Gaza Strip alone and fight the resistance man-to-man?

Although the Zionist regime has announced that it wants to enter Gazan, it is very hesitant to do so, because the US, Western countries, and former military commanders of the Zionist regime know what kind of predicament they will face entry into Gaza with their ground forces. Therefore, in their messages to the Zionist regime, they advised the regime not to do so, and even President Biden clearly emphasized that the regime’s entering into Gaza would be a big mistake.

Now we see that the Zionist regime is hesitant and knows the hell it will face if it enters Gaza. Hamas lives in an underground city and can come out from anywhere and confront the soldiers and military equipment of the Zionist regime.

Question: You mentioned Biden’s messages to Israel; it was said that the US has indirectly sent two messages to Iran. What topics did these messages refer to, and what was Iran’s response?

These messages are confidential, but Dr. Amir Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs, explained them. In general, these messages show the Americans’ concern about the expansion of the war. Naturally, we have answered that to prevent the spread of the war, you should prevent the Zionist regime’s continuous actions, and the Security Council should declare a ceasefire to control the war, because, with the continuation of the current trend, the possibility of a large-scale war is significant.

Question: As you mentioned, the US helps Israel in many ways, including vetoing resolutions in the United Nations Security Council. In this case, in your opinion, how likely is it that an end to this war will be put through international organizations such as the United Nations or the Security Council?

This issue largely depends on the diplomatic efforts of countries and the world’s public opinion. In the past few days, people in different Islamic and non-Islamic countries condemned the crimes of the Zionist regime, especially the killings of children and the massacre of Palestinians, and supported Hamas. If these conditions continue on the international scene, naturally, the US will have no choice, but to withdraw from its position.

On the other hand, the Zionist airstrikes, massacring and killing civilians in Gaza is indescribable. Before the establishment of the United Nations, and the passing of laws about war and war crimes, the warlords committed many such crimes in history. But after the establishment of the United Nations, no one expected the same heinous crimes to be repeated. Unfortunately, today, we are witnessing the repetition of the same crimes of massacre and genocide, and the United Nations has become an effectless tool when the United States opposed the resolutions of Russia and Brazil asking for a ceasefire. The regime’s crimes in Gaza were so widespread that the Secretary General of the United Nations after visiting Rafah, took a moderate position in the Security Council, and the Israelis reacted angrily towards the Secretary-General. Therefore, we cannot put any hope in the United Nations.

Question: Why are the results of the Al-Aqsa storm operation strategic?

What Hamas did was a strategic action, and achieved a strategic victory. And on the other hand, it was a strategic defeat of the Zionist regime. Such a strategic defeat cannot be remedied with bombings, massacres, and genocides. Therefore, the fate of this war is clear, and ultimately, the Zionists will not achieve anything.

Question: According to your Excellency, Hamas took a strategic action. Did they know exactly what they were doing and what the results would be? Or that they could not predict the future situation?

“Of course, strategic actions involve high costs. Certainly, Hamas, which made the Zionist regime’s strategic defeat possible, knew that it would receive a harsh response from that regime The Zionist regime is now responding to this act out of desperation with the mass killing of the people of Gaza. Of course, Palestinians are used to living with the killings and crimes of the regime. For every martyred Palestinian, dozens of young Palestinians take his place. They possess nothing but their lives, which are ready to sacrifice for their independence. Therefore, they are ready to pay such high costs for their strategic victory. However, the costs imposed on them are indescribable.

Question: After this operation was carried out, the Israelis made two central claims: firstly, that we would reduce the area of the Gaza Strip, so-called create a safe zone, and actually evacuate the people of this area with forced migration, and secondly, that they must destroy the resistance in Gaza. In your opinion, can Israel destroy the resistance in this region despite the 17-year blockade of Gaza?

Resistance, especially Islamic resistance, cannot be eliminated. No matter how many martyrs the Islamic resistance would have, new forces would join the resistance, and this path will continue as it has been. All the crimes the Zionist regime has committed against the Palestinian people, especially the Islamic resistance, have been aimed at destroying them. However, the result of these attempts has been the expansion of the resistance. Today, the power of Hamas and Islamic Jihad cannot be compared with five or ten years ago. This shows that Islamic resistance is fertile. Therefore, the Zionist regime cannot destroy the Islamic resistance. Suppose that the regime decides to enter Gaza, it would certainly face hell, because, the Islamic resistance is an underground entity, and the regime’s soldiers cannot deal with it on the ground, as recently they came out from tunnels and targeted the tanks and the Zionist officers.

Therefore, surely the Zionist regime will face a guerrilla war. Guerrilla wars are naturally long-term and ongoing. We have seen the results of guerrilla wars in other countries! The US experienced a guerrilla war in Vietnam in which could not defeat the Vietnamese. This is the situation in Gaza as well; the war continues, and indeed, the Zionist regime will not achieve any results.

Question: How long do you think this war will continue?

In the current situation, the Zionist regime plans to continue this war. Hamas and the resistance forces are also ready to continue the war.

Question: What do you think about Israel’s attempt to displace the residents of Gaza?

Naturally, one of the policies of the Zionist regime is to create a new Nekbah. Where the people of Gaza could be pushed to? Should they be pushed to Egypt? Or should people in the West Bank be pushed to Jordan? But Jordan and Egypt have strongly resisted this policy because will cause them serious problems and consequences. The international community also would not accept such a forced migration.

Question: We witnessed military reactions by some regional actors, including from Yemen, supporting the resistance. Do you think these military movements may become more widespread?

All these measures are to show their readiness to enter into a severe war with the Zionist regime which depends on the Zionist regime’s policy on how far they want to go, and to what extent the US, and other Western countries would warn the regime against the expansion of the war. However, the resistance forces were fully prepared to go to war with the Zionist regime in support of Hamas. As the resistance forces and Iranian officials have emphasized, the resistance will be forced to enter the war if the war spreads. At the same time, they do not take orders from anyone or ignore the recommendations. They are to defend themselves and the Islamic resistance.

Question: People in Iran and other Islamic and Arab countries came to the streets and expressed their disgust at Israel’s attacks on Gaza. But at the level of the governments, both Islamic and Arab, were the reactions proportionate to the crimes that Israel is committing?

The public opinion of Islamic countries has shown their ultimate anger and excitement. Therefore, governments have no choice but to align themselves with their public opinion. So, Islamic governments have had relatively good positions in the shadows of these developments. The organization of Islamic Cooperation also held a meeting and issued a strong statement. Even the countries that had normalized their relations with the Zionist regime inevitably took severe positions. We saw these developments in Morocco, and other countries and the representative of the UAE in the Security Council took a relatively serious position against the crimes of the Zionist regime and called for an immediate ceasefire.

In general, the positions have been in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Still, we expect to witness more severe positions, because their severe position would make the Zionist regime stop its criminal actions and policies.

Question: In general, we know that Iran insists on the policy of conducting a referendum on the Palestinian issue, in which the Palestinians themselves will clarify the fate of their land. But regarding this war, does Iran have a practical solution and initiative to stop the war?

First of all, we want to stop the war and prevent the spread of the war. Secondly, the Zionists who committed such crimes in Gaza be held accountable. But how Hamas wants to exchange prisoners depends on them. They would have their demands. As in the past, Hezbollah was able to free many Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Zionist prisoners. Therefore, this is a weapon that Hamas has in hand, and in return has its expectations that must be met.

But what is important for the Islamic Republic of Iran is to monitor the scene and follow the developments, to be able to react when necessary. We are active in the diplomatic activities. The Foreign Minister and Mr. President are in contact with their different counterparts. Of course, this is not enough, and naturally, one of the goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to mobilize public opinion in the world, and Al-Alam can play a prominent role in this field.  The Zionist regime, which has now suffered a strategic failure, and its security and military reputation is gone, should be advised by its Western supporters that continuing this way will ultimately lead them nowhere. They should stop their criminal actions.