Baghdad, The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, stated that he spoke with the Iranian Authorities and urged them to push the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip to release the hostages, and to prevent the Lebanese Hezbollah from interfering in the conflict with Israel.
Guterres said: “I spoke with Iran and asked for two things. First, to pressure Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages, and second, to tell Hezbollah that it should not create a situation in which Lebanon is completely overwhelmed by this conflict.”
Guterres found it difficult to assess how Iran would respond to his demands.
He said: "I don't know. They always said they had nothing to do with what happened, but they speak openly about the danger of expanding the conflict, and the matter is very ambiguous."
In statements to CNN, Guterres expressed his concern about the risk of the conflict spreading to the West Bank and Lebanon.
He pointed out that since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel, 101 United Nations employees have been killed.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency