The U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad has vowed to support Hezbollah if Israel attacks on the Lebanese-Israel border, said the former’s leader, Ziad Nakhala, in an interview to the state-owned Iranian TV channel Al-Alam.

“In the next confrontation with the occupation, the axis of resistance will operate from the north in Lebanon to the south in Gaza,” he said on Saturday.

Nakhala made this remark after meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

“Iran’s support and its position (on the Palestinian issue) play a major role in defeating the efforts made to dismiss the issue of Palestinian rights,” said Nakhala after meeting with Rouhani. “The Palestinian people are being pressured by the U.S. and Israel to accept the so-called ‘deal of the century,’ which is meant to close the Palestinian cause.”

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Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, also a U.S.-designated terrorist group, are Iranian proxies. The former is the second-largest terrorist group in Gaza and works with Hamas, which controls the area.