WASHINGTON, February 19. /TASS/. Iranian authorities are privately urging the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah and other armed groups not to provoke the United States in order to avoid further escalation of the Middle East conflict, The Washington Post reported, citing Lebanese and Iraqi officials.

"Iran is doing its utmost to prevent the expansion of the war and the escalation from reaching the point of no return," an Iraqi official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

According to the newspaper, Iranian authorities have publicly warned that the country’s military is ready to respond to any threat, but "in private, senior leaders are urging caution." Iranian officials in Lebanon, for example, said in a February meeting with Hezbollah members that they "are not keen on giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu any reason to launch a wider war on Lebanon or anywhere else." According to sources, in Iraq, Iranian officials pointed out that a renewed conflict in the region could "risk upsetting momentum behind talks on a US military withdrawal from the country."

"Iran may have realized their interests [in the region] are not served by allowing their proxies unrestricted ability to attack US and coalition forces," a US official told the newspaper.

On February 9, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran would continue to strongly support Lebanon and Islamic resistance forces in the region. He said that Hezbollah militias are capable of defending Lebanon in coordination with the Lebanese army and government. The top diplomat added that Israel will not be able to wage a war on two fronts - in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon - so if Netanyahu decides to embark on a new adventure, it will be the end of his political career.

He also noted that the winners in the current conflict in the Middle East will be the resistance groups and the Palestinian people, while the warmongers will be defeated. The Iranian foreign minister described the US as the main culprit for the deterioration of the situation in the region.