Iranian president, visiting Qatar, aims to rally opposition to Israeli 'crimes'

DUBAI - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned of a strong response from Tehran to any further Israeli actions against it and sought to rally Asian countries to its side as he visited Qatar on Wednesday.

Pezeshkian arrived in Qatar a day after Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, and Israel stepped up its war with Tehran's proxy Hezbollah by sending troops over the border into Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would strike back at Iran following Tuesday's missile attack.

"If the Zionist regime (Israel) does not stop its crimes, it

will face harsher reactions," Pezeshkian said as he left for the trip, Iranian state media reported.

He reiterated this later at a joint press conference in Doha with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, saying that if Israel acts in one way against Iran then Tehran will respond in a more severe way.

The United States and European countries should tell Israel not to destabilize the region, Pezeshkian added.

Pezeshkian also criticised Israel over the killing of the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on July 31. Iran blames Israel for the assassination but Israel as neither claimed nor denied responsibility.

Since then, Israel has assassinated the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, and struck at Lebanon.

"We also want security and peace. It was Israel that assassinated Haniyeh in Tehran," Pezeshkian was quoted as saying on his arrival in Qatar by Iran's Student News Network.

The Qatari emir told the press conference that Doha would continue its mediation efforts to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, now nearly a year old. Qatar and other international mediators have working on a ceasefire agreement for Gaza but the talks have stalled.

The Iranian president will also attend a summit of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue nations in Doha.

He told Iranian state television he wanted to discuss "how Asian countries can prevent Israeli crimes in the region...and prevent enemies from causing uproar in the Middle East."

-(Reuters)