News - Middle East: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Israel will not achieve its objective of inflaming the region to extricate itself from the Gaza quagmire, stressing, however, that the regime will get a response to its atrocities.

He made the remarks on Friday night upon arrival in New York, where he is expected to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Speaking to reporters, Araghchi said that Israel’s recent terrorist crimes in Lebanon, including the assassination of a top-ranking commander of the Hezbollah resistance movement, shows that the regime is desperately scrambling to drag the entire region into the dangerous deadlock that it has got itself caught in.

“In my opinion, the Zionist regime has not reached any of its goals … after a year of brutal war and killing of people in Gaza. This has put the regime in a dangerous position ready to commit any crime and inflame the region in order to save itself,” he added.

“The countries of the region and the Islamic Republic of Iran have always dealt with these issues with vigilance… The Israeli regime will definitely not achieve its objectives of escalating tensions and war, but it will get a response to its crimes.”

Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was among 14 killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh on Friday. The terrorist attack came after the explosion of thousands of booby-trapped devices killed 42 people and left nearly 3,500 others injured across Lebanon.

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which is also waging a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.