G7 Warns Iran to Stop Supporting Terrorism and Building Nuclear Weapons

A statement was issued over the weekend by the G7 group of leading industrialized countries, including the US, UK, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Japan, warning Iran "to refrain from providing support to Hamas, Hezbollah, Huthis, and other nonstate actors, and taking further actions that could destabilize the region and trigger an uncontrolled process of escalation." The statement was accompanied by more muted statements from the US that Israel should scale back its planned strikes on Iran in retaliation for the ballistic missile attack of October 1st.

The statement also warned Iran against taking further steps along the route of developing nuclear weapons and also said Iran should refrain from transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.

The G7 statement also said it was "united in supporting the need for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza," the release of all hostages, and a "significant and sustained increase" in the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. It also expressed dissatisfaction with the rising threats to UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon, without saying who should be blamed for this state of affairs.

In response to the statement, Iran's Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani urged the group to distance itself from "destructive policies of the past" adding that "Any attempt to link the war in Ukraine to the bilateral cooperation between Iran and Russia is an act with only biased political goals," Kanaani said, adding his deep regret that some actors are "resorting to false claims to continue sanctions" against Iran.

In this he was probably referring to a recent resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors, which called on Iran to increase it's cooperation with the IAEA and allow inspectors to return to Iranian nuclear facilities.

Kanaani said the resolution was "politically biased" but because Iran is a patient country it would its "constructive interaction and technical cooperation" with the IAEA.

However, the IAEA has said several times over the past few years that Iran is not cooperating with them and that this is a clear violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Also on October 19th, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on October 19 said the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar "creates an opening that I believe we must take full advantage of to dedicate ourselves to ending this war and bringing the hostages home. As it relates to the issues in the Middle East and in particular in that region, it has never been easy. But that doesn't mean we give up. It's always going to be difficult."

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also had something to say on October 19th, declaring that the death of Sinwar "is undoubtedly painful for the Axis of Resistance...but this front did not cease advancing with the martyrdom of prominent figures."

In a related story, Saudi-owned news portal MBC aired a report over the weekend in which it referred to assassinated leaders of Iranian-backed terrorist groups as "terrorists" prompting an angry mob to attack their office in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The mob, including around 400 people, "wrecked the electronic equipment, the computers, and set fire to a part of the building," an Iraqi Interior Ministry source told AFP.