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Iran has the right to defend itself, the country’s envoy to Armenia Mehdi Sobhani said at a press conference amid the Israeli airstrikes.
He said that over the past several decades Iran has always been the victim of aggression and never started wars.
Sobhani said the war has been imposed upon Iran. The attack was unprovoked, he said.
The Ambassador said Iran is determined to defend itself from the Israeli attacks.
He accused Israel of expanding its circle of actions in the Middle East, affecting the interests of all regional countries by escalating tensions, deepening crises and increasing instability.
“The threat of war is diplomacy’s enemy and the main factor of destabilization in the Middle East,” he said.
Sobhani said that Israel is supported by the US, thus Iran rejects Washington’s claims about dialogue and diplomacy on the backdrop of its political, military, intelligence and technical support to Israel.
“We didn’t want war and we were dealing with the negotiations pertaining to our nuclear program, however this war was imposed on us. The use of force will not bring to an agreement, and we will not give up,” the ambassador said.
He said Western countries call on Iran to exercise restraint only when Iran, the victim of aggression, intends to lawfully defend itself.
Sobhani said Western countries ought to exert strong pressure upon Israel instead of calling on Iran – the country whose territorial integrity and security is threatened – to exercise restraint.
The ambassador called out Israeli and Western media for their coverage of the events, saying they present the Israeli strikes as hitting military targets and Iranian strikes as targeting civilian targets, whereas peaceful Iranian civilians and residential districts have been hit by Israeli targets.
“How can the Iranian state television and radio company be a military center and get bombarded,” the ambassador said, referring to the June 16 Israeli airstrike targeting the headquarters of the Iranian national broadcaster. “The attack on this institution was an attack on truth, which is a sign of desperation. They [Israel] want to silence the voice of truth, which can’t be done through bombing,” the Iranian ambassador said.
Ambassador Sobhani described the Israeli airstrikes targeting the Iranian nuclear facilities as “the last red lines of international law” which Israel has crossed. If the international community remains indifferent towards violations of these red lines, he said, then all other countries will feel the consequences. He said Iran expects the international community to condemn the attacks at nuclear facilities which were working for peaceful purposes, and hold those guilty of the aggression accountable.
“History has recorded numerous facts of courageous resistance by Iranians. The goal of the actions against Iran is not the nuclear issue, but to inflict a blow to the collective identity of Iranians, therefore the political elite and all layers of our society are determined to defend the country. All our defensive measures are Iranian and were created from scratch under heavy sanctions. We are clearly announcing that we did not seek escalation of hostilities, but we are ready for any scenario. Iran will maintain its red lines and will not deviate from that path,” Sobhani said.
He thanked the Armenian government for condemning the Israeli strikes and expressing a clear position. The Ambassador said Iran highly appreciates the support of the Armenian people. “We feel the spiritual support of the Armenian people,” the ambassador said.
Israel launched what it calls Operation Rising Lion against Iran in the early hours of Friday, calling it a preemptive strike designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran has denied plans to develop such weapons. Tehran retaliated by launching counterstrikes on Israel.
Iran reported over 220 deaths, mostly civilians. Israel said 24 people have died in the Iranian counterstrikes.