"What I gathered from what I heard from them and the plans that they have -- they have their finger on the trigger," he said, as quoted by AFP.
Speaking to National Public Radio from the United Nations, where he was attending a General Assembly session on the crisis in the Middle East, Amir-Abdollahian said the actions would be "much more powerful and deeper than what you’ve witnessed."
"Therefore I believe that if this situation continues and women and children and civilians are still killed in Gaza and the West Bank, anything will be possible," he was quoted as having said.
Amir-Abdollahian insisted, however, that Iran does not tell its proxies when to act and they would decide on their own rather than at the behest of Iran.
"We don't really want this conflict to spread out," he claimed.
During the second week of the war against Hamas, which began on October 7, Iranian proxy Hezbollah and other groups in Lebanon began upping their attacks as well, targeting towns and military installments in northern Israel with rockets and anti-tank munitions. IDF forces have responded as needed.
Amir-Abdollahian’s comments came as sources in the Palestinian Authority (PA) reported on Friday evening that Israeli tanks had begun entering the Gaza Strip.
Before those reports, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced that the IDF ground forces would be intensifying the ground operation on Friday night.
A Wall Street Journal report after Hamas’ October 7 attack claimed that Iranian security officials helped plan the attack and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut.
However, a senior Hamas official later denied that Iran helped the terrorist organization plan its surprise attack on Israel.
Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also denied any Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack.
