Iran’s foreign minister said the war in Gaza could be nearer to a “diplomatic solution” as he discussed the potential release of Israeli hostages captured by Hamas during a meeting with the heads of Palestinian resistance groups.
In comments that offered no specifics or word on timing, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement, citing Hossein Amirabdollahian, that “developments in Gaza are moving toward a diplomatic solution.”
Amirabdollahian spoke during a visit to Beirut, where he met senior officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a militant group and ally of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
The minister “emphasized the importance of exchanging prisoners” and “adopting a unified stance by Palestinian groups” to end the conflict, now into its fifth month, according to the statement.
Separately on Saturday, state media said an Iranian flotilla, led by the Alborz destroyer and the Behshad logistics support ship, returned to the country’s waters after three months. The flotilla concluded a mission in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden amid attacks on commercial vessels by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Amirabdollahian had previously denied Iran’s involvement in attacks that have roiled the shipping industry, while describing them as a measure by the Houthis to stop Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and took more than 200 people hostage in attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel’s retaliatory air and ground offensive has killed more than 27,000 people in Gaza, according to officials in the Hamas-run health ministry there.
Amirabdollahian left Tehran on Friday for the Lebanese capital and is expected to visit Syria in the coming days as part of a regional tour focused on finding ways to stop the conflict in Gaza.
Separately, US President Joe Biden this week criticized the extent of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as tension builds over Israeli plans to push into the southern city of Rafah, where more than one million people have sought refuge.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to draw up plans to evacuate Rafah in advance of an expected ground offensive.
“The conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden said at the White House. “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving. A lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it’s got to stop.”
The comments marked an escalation in Biden’s criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas.
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