Iran president tells Macron war will expand if Israel doesn’t end Gaza siege

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during an annual military parade in front of the shrine of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, September. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during an annual military parade in front of the shrine of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, September. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s hardline president speaks with France’s leader, warning that war would expand if Israel’s siege of Gaza doesn’t stop, state-run media reported.

The official IRNA news agency said Ebrahim Raisi and Emmanuel Macron spoke over the phone. The Iranian president made no mention of the unprecedented Oct. 7 incursion by Gaza’s Hamas terror group into southern Israel that sparked the latest Hamas-Israel war. Iran has long been a supporter of Hamas.

“The situation will be complicated…if the crimes by the Zionist regime, including the killing of people and blockade of Gaza, are not stopped,” Raisi was quoted as saying, referring to Israel. IRNA did not provide further details.

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