Hezbollah says Iran nuclear agreement 'rules out specter of regional war'

While Nasrallah has tried to calm fears of nuclear war, conflict with Israel remains a possibility.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah (photo credit: REUTERS)
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Monday that a framework nuclear agreement that Iran reached with world powers last week rules out the specter of regional war.
"There is no doubt that the Iranian nuclear deal will be big and important to the region," Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with Syria's al-Ikhbariya television.
"The agreement, God willing, rules out the specter of regional war and world war," he said.
The tentative accord, struck on Thursday after eight days of talks in Switzerland, clears the way for a settlement to allay Western fears that Iran could build an atomic bomb, with economic sanctions on Tehran being lifted in return.
Nasrallah said the accord would prevent conflict as "the Israeli enemy was always threatening to bomb Iranian facilities and that bombing would definitely lead to a regional war."
While the Hezbollah leader attempted to put fears of regional war to rest, he did not try to assuage any anxieties over continued conflict with Israel.
Lauding the agreement, he explained that “a stronger and wealthier Iran in the coming phase will be able to stand by its allies [Hezbollah], and especially the Palestinian resistance [Hamas], more than at any other time in history.”
But such predictions may also extend to other regional Iranian proxies, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Shi'ite Arab militias in Iraq, both of whose influence are seen as growing as government instability and sectarian tensions have flared up in those two countries.
The Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah was founded with Iranian help in the 1980s to fight Israel in Lebanon. It has grown into a powerful political and military force and is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's army in Syria's civil war.