Lebanon's Hezbollah chief says group concerned with confronting US threat against Iran

BEIRUT, Jan 26 (Reuters) - ⁠The leader ⁠of ‍Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement, Naim Qassem, said on Monday that his group was concerned ‍about confronting Washington's threat against Iran, particularly any ​threat against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tensions between Iran and ​the United States have grown following a severe crackdown on protests across Iran in which thousands were killed in the ​past few weeks, which President Donald Trump said could lead to a U.S. response. Tehran said ​any attack on Khamenei would trigger a "holy war".

"We are concerned with what ‌is happening and targeted by potential aggression. We are determined to defend ourselves. We ​will choose in due course ⁠how to act, whether to intervene or not... but we are not neutral," ‌Qassem said in a televised address.

The Hezbollah leader said mediators had told the group the U.S. and Israel were ‌considering hitting it in case there was an attack on ‌Iran, saying that a war on Iran could ignite the entire region this time.

Hezbollah was severely weakened in 2024 during ‍cross border fighting with Israel that Hezbollah said was in support of Palestinians ⁠in Gaza.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in 2024, but both sides have traded accusations of violations.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya GebeilyWriting by Jaidaa TahaEditing by Peter Graff)

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