Iranian foreign minister deflects question about threatening U.S.

Iran's foreign minister said his country doesn't want the Israel-Hamas war to expand but declined to say that Iran would not get involved in broader regional fighting.

Speaking via a translator on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian did not directly answer a question as to whether he was threatening the United States during a speech Thursday. Addressing the U.N. General Assembly that day, he said of the United States, "If the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from the fire."

On Sunday, he told interviewer Bianna Golodryga: "We don't want this war to spread out."

But, while not answering Golodryga's question as to whether Iran was threatening American forces, he condemned the United States for "interfering in all aspects of the region."

Amir-Abdollahian also said that Iran was not responsible for Hamas' attacks on Israel or any strikes in the region either against Israel or American forces in the area, including by Hezbollah, its close ally, in Lebanon.

"They are not receiving orders from us. They act according to their own interests," he said.

Fighting in Gaza continues, three weeks after the Hamas incursion on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,400 Israelis dead; more than 200 Israelis were taken captive that day. Iran's foreign ministry immediately praised those attacks, saying: “What took place today is in line with the continuation of victories for the anti-Zionist resistance in different fields."

Thousands of Gazans have been killed since then even as Hamas continues to launch rockets into Israel.

Reiterating long-standing Iranian positions, Amir-Abdollahian referred to Israel as a "source of evil." Iran doesn't recognize Israel's existence and regards all of what it refers to as Palestine as occupied territory.

"They just want to foment insecurity," he said of Israel.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden warned the United States would respond if Iran or its allies attacked U.S. service members in the Middle East.

“My warning to the Ayatollah was that if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond. And he should be prepared,” the president said.