Qassem says Hezbollah not neutral if Iran attacked, would decide then how to act

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Monday that Hezbollah will not remain “neutral” should Iran come under a new attack, but added that it would choose whether to intervene or not at the appropriate time.

“When (U.S. President Donald) Trump threatens (Iran’s supreme leader) Imam (Ali) Khamenei, he is threatening tens of millions who follow this leader,” Qassem said via video link during a Hezbollah rally in solidarity with Iran.

“We’re concerned with confronting this threat and we consider it a threat to us and to our religion, and we have all the jurisdiction to do what we see right to confront it,” Qassem added.

“It is our duty to encounter this threat with all the measures and preparations, because harming Imam Khamenei would be an assassination of stability and of the situation in the region and the world, due to the spread of the supporters and advocates of the Wali al-Faqih (Khamenei),” the Hezbollah leader said.

Qassem also said that any attack on the group's backer Iran would also be targeted against Hezbollah, while warning that any new war on Iran would ignite the region.

"Faced with aggression that does not distinguish between us... we are targeted by any potential aggression and determined to defend ourselves," he said.

"We will choose at that time how to act... but we are not neutral," Qassem added, warning that "a war on Iran this time will ignite the region."