A senior conservative Iranian politician has said that if Israel launches a ground offensive in Gaza, Iran’s other proxy forces should join the war.

Iranian media on Sunday quoted Ali Motahari, former deputy speaker of the Islamic Republic’s parliament, who often appears as a voice of moderation on some issues, called the Lebanese Hezbollah and Syria “Iran’s forces”.

He stated that “We should not be indifferent until the operation starts,” and added that Iran’s allies should “play a deterrent role.”

Motahari called for “all the means prepared in past years should be deployed. Naturally, such plans should already exist. Mr. Amir-Abdollahian’s [foreign minister] trip to Syria and Lebanon showed that such coordination is taking place. He did mention that if a ground attack takes place against Gaza, others in the resistance front will become active.”

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who visited Qatar on Saturday met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, leading to calls by many observers for the United States to push Qatar to distance itself from Palestinian militants.

A senior Israeli official accused Iran on Sunday of trying to open a second war front by deploying weapons in or through Syria as Israel steps up its counter-offensive in Gaza to the south.

Responding to a post of the X social-media platform that posited such a scenario, Joshua Zarka, head of strategic affairs for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said: "They (Iranians) are."

The original post also said "the Israelis are determined to prevent" such developments. To that, Zarka responded" "We are."

Syria accused Israel of carrying out strikes against Damascus and Aleppo airports last week.