Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after pager explosions

Iran accused Israel on Wednesday of “mass murder” after paging devices belonging to the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah group in Lebanon exploded, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others.

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Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime… as an example of mass murder”.

Among those wounded in the pager blasts on Tuesday was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, with Iranian media reporting he suffered injuries “to the hand and the face.”

State television said that Amani was only lightly injured.

The Iranian Red Crescent said on Wednesday it had dispatched “rescue teams and eye surgeons” to Lebanon to treat the wounded.

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There was no immediate comment from Israel on the wave of explosions that killed nine people, including the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, and wounded around 2,800 others.

The blasts came just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attacks to include its fight against the group’s ally Hezbollah along the country’s border with Lebanon.

In his statement, Kanani expressed solidarity with the families of those killed and wounded in the explosions including the Iranian ambassador.

“Combating the terrorist acts of the (Israeli) regime and the threats arising from them is an obvious necessity,” said Kanani.

“It is necessary for the international community to act quickly in order to counter the impunity of the Zionist criminal authorities.”

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