Iran warns of stronger response if Israel escalates Lebanon attacks

Regional governments are not in a position to demand reparations over war damages, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, rejecting reports that Washington may use Iranian assets to compensate its allies.

“Iran’s assets are neither war spoils for Washington nor a payment fund for its allies,” Gharibabadi said.

"Any seizure, transfer, or allocation of Iran's property without the consent of the Iranian government is itself a new internationally wrongful act, giving rise to the responsibility of the United States—especially under conditions where it claims to seek negotiation and understanding—and will also prompt an appropriate response from Iran," he added.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the government would be compelled to respond if state television and some media figures continued to direct what he described as unfair criticism toward the administration during wartime.

"Our colleagues in the government have always been careful to ensure that society's psychological calm is not threatened, and I have emphasized preserving unity and tolerating differences," Pezeshkian said in a post on X.

"However, when state television and some media activists direct the edge of unfair criticism toward the government during wartime conditions, we will be compelled to provide an appropriate response. This is not in the country's interest," he added.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said Tehran stood with Lebanon after the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut's southern suburbs in response to fire from the Iran-backed group toward northern Israel.

"The resistance of Lebanon is the soul of Iran," Ejei said on X.

"Now, with the Zionists' aggression, a cloud of sorrow has settled over Beirut's face. With this cloud of grief, hearts in Tehran have begun to tremble. We stand alongside the people and resistance of Lebanon," he added in another post on X.

The Israeli military said it had uncovered an underground Hezbollah tunnel network in southern Lebanon’s Beaufort Heights, which it said was designed and financed by Iran.

"The Israeli military is revealing an asset from the underground tunnel network of the Hezbollah terrorist organization that was built with the design and financing of the Iranian terrorist regime in the Beaufort Heights," the Israeli military's Persian language spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement said the network was built about six kilometers from Metula and included tunnels, weapons storage, anti-tank positions and infrastructure for prolonged combat.

Tehran prosecutors filed a case against journalist Abbas Abdi and the reformist newspaper Etemad following the publication of an article by Abdi, the judiciary's news agency Mizan reported.

The case was referred to an investigating judge for further inquiry, the report said.

According to Mizan, Abdi was summoned and informed of charges including creating divisions among segments of society and publishing falsehoods and inaccurate information, citing provisions of Iran's Press Law and Islamic Penal Code.