Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says Iran is ‘for the time being’ focused on targeting Israeli sites only as conflict enters sixth day.
Iran has warned that any intervention by the United States in its conflict with Israel would risk an “all-out war”, as the regional rivals traded missile fire for a sixth day.
After President Donald Trump hinted at greater US involvement in the conflict and sent warplanes to the region, Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday pledged that Iran would defend itself with “all force”.
Here are some key takeaways from an exclusive interview the Iranian official gave to Al Jazeera.
Will Iran attack US forces?
Baghaei said Iran is “under an attack by a genocidal regime”, adding it will defend itself with “full force” against Israel’s “war of aggression”.
He said Iran is “for the time being” focused on targeting Israeli sites only, and Tehran trusts its neighbours would not allow the US to use their territory for attacks against it.
“Right now, we focus on defending ourselves from attacks from Israel, and that is why we have been very careful, very responsible, very calculated in our response to these attacks. We have targeted military bases, security bases inside the occupied lands, so for the time being, we are focused on that,” he said.
“We have very good relations with Arab countries, and they are very cognisant of the fact that Israel has been trying to drag others into the war … We are sure our Arab countries hosting US bases would not allow their territory to be used against their Muslim neighbours,” he added.
“I trust that the understanding between Iran and our neighbouring countries would not allow any third party to abuse their territory,” he said.
Is Iran willing to engage in diplomacy?
According to Baghaei, “diplomacy never ends”. But he said Tehran no longer trusts Washington.
“We were in the middle of [nuclear] negotiations [with the US], and all of a sudden, Israel started attacking Iran. And no one can imagine in our region, not only in Iran, that Israel started this war without a prior green light from the US,” he said.
“So I think what is at stake is the credibility of a country that is supposed to be a global power. What is at stake is the international law that has been almost annihilated because of all the atrocities committed in occupied Palestine and in Syria and elsewhere,” he noted.
Baghaei said Iran is in contact with other countries, including Russia, because it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. “We expect everyone that has leeway, that has a mandate under the UN Security Council, to act to help achieve a resolution in condemnation of this attack,” he said.
Will Iran give up its nuclear programme?
Israel has said its attacks on Iran came to stop Tehran from building nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied that it seeks nuclear bombs and that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Baghaei argued: “Where are the IAEA’s violation reports? The true criminals bomb inspected facilities.”
“Our nuclear programme has been part and parcel of our right under the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty]. So we have not done anything wrong under international law. Our nuclear programme started in the 1950s and it has continued for the past five decades completely peacefully,” he said.
He accused Israel of attacking a “peaceful installation” in Iran and questioned why members of the NPT allowed the attack to happen.
“This is completely banned under international law. This is completely criminal. And in accordance with Article 573 of [the UN convention on nuclear safety, as adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency] IAEA … the threat of attack against a country’s peaceful installation constitutes a threat to peace and security,” he noted.
“Now, we are witnessing a serious breach of peace … so I think the international community must make Israel and its supporters accountable for what they have done in their aggression against Iran.”
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