TEHRAN- Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s Foreign Minister, has denied U.S. allegations that Iran was involved in recent attacks on U.S. military bases in West Asia, saying that Iran has no proxies in the region and that Tehran does not control any group.

The senior Iranian diplomat shared these remarks in an interview on CNN’s GPS program during his visit last week to the United States, where he participated in a UN General Assembly emergency meeting regarding the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Amir Abdollahian also made clear that “it is totally wrong and unfounded that any attack, which is carried out in the region and when U.S. interests are targeted by any group, are attributed to the Islamic Republic without any evidence.”

“They don’t take orders from Iran. They act based on their interests, as the operation that Hamas carried out was a fully Palestinian decision. They shouldered responsibility, took a decision, and took action,” the chief diplomat said, referring to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.

He also stressed that, as a regional actor, Iran is directly influenced by and involved in regional developments, comparing Iran to the United States, which is hundreds of kilometers away but attempts to intervene in all regional affairs.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the foreign minister cited two instances of such involvement: Washington’s support of the Israeli regime’s continuous aggression in Gaza and the U.S. military’s deployment in Syria without Damascus’ consent.

“We are in our region. We are defending our national security,” he added, underlining that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has no proxies in the region. Iran has not had and does not have any proxy war. It is Israel, which is the proxy of the U.S. in the region and has made our region insecure.”

Amir Abdollahian also expressed dissatisfaction with the U.S. for sending out signals expressing concern over the intensification of the onslaught on Gaza and advising Iran to use caution.

He pointed out that the U.S. continuously backs and arms the Tel Aviv regime while airlifting all kinds of weapons to Israel.

“We think that someone, who is part of this war, is not in a position to advise others to show restraint,” he added.

The minister stated that an immediate ceasefire is the only way to end the conflict in Gaza, noting that Hamas has also expressed desire to free Israeli prisoners.

Amir Abdollahian said that the Palestinians are responding to more than 75 years of Israeli aggression with the Al-Aqsa Storm while adding that Hamas is a resistance group that opposes the occupation of Palestinian lands in accordance with international law.

Amir Abdollahian discusses Gaza issue with several counterparts

Also, in separate phone calls on Monday with Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States Paul Archbishop Richard Gallagher, Maltese Minister for Foreign, Trade and European Affairs Ian Borg, and Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, Amir Abdollahian discussed the current developments in West Asia, particularly the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which Iran has described as a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in the besieged territory.