Hezbollah Chief Vows to Confront US Middle East Plan

The leader of the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militant group pledged on Friday to confront the US Middle East plan that President Donald Trump has called "the deal of the century" and warned that Washington would pay a heavy price if it decided to launch a war against Iran.

In a televised speech at a rally marking the annual Quds Day, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that "war against Iran will not stop at Iran's borders," and that “the entire region will burn. […] All US forces and interests in the region will be annihilated."

He said the "balance of power" was preventing a US-Iran war, which he warned would also hit US allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. The statement was made on the same day that Saudi Arabia's king told an emergency Arab summit on Friday that decisive action was needed to stop Iranian "escalations" in the region, blaming Tehran for the attacks on Gulf oil assets.

Nasrallah described the US blueprint to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, led by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, as a "historic crime" that must be stopped. "This is a religious, moral, humanitarian, jihadi duty," he said. The plan is still in draft form after almost two years, yet it is expected to be unveiled at a conference in Bahrain in late June. It seeks to encourage investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Arab donor states before grappling with thorny political issues at the heart of the conflict.

Palestinian and Arab sources briefed on the draft say it has jettisoned the two-state solution — the long-standing formula that envisages an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, Reuters reported.

READ MORE: Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Able to Crush Israeli Troops in Case of Lebanon Attack

Nasrallah also denied charges that Hezbollah has factories in Lebanon to produce precision-guided missiles, but said it has enough of those missiles "to change the face of the region." Israel and the United States believe Hezbollah has sought home-grown production of precision-guided missiles that could paralyse Israeli infrastructure.