Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has said that Israel and the United States will never be able to wipe out Hamas and that Israel can only secure the liberation of its hostages in Gaza with a political solution to the conflict, Reuters reports.

In a speech at the United Nations in Geneva in which he described the group as a “freedom movement”, Amirabdollahian said: “Israel and the United States will never be able to eliminate Hamas.”

He added that Israel could not have the hostages taken by Hamas freed through fighting, adding that only a political solution could achieve this.