‘ Very dangerous for everyone’ if US enters Iran-Israel war: Araghchi
Washington used nuclear talks as ‘cover’ for Tel Aviv’s aggression
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday it would be “very, very dangerous for everyone” if the United States becomes actively involved in the Israel’s aggression against Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Turkish city of Istanbul, which was held to discuss the regime’s aggression against Iran.
During the past week, Iran has launched missile and drone strikes on Israel after the regime attacked Iran in an unprovoked act of aggression overnight on June 13.
According to Iran’s Health Ministry, more than 400 people including several top Iranian military officials have been killed in the regime’s strikes. The attacks have also injured more than 3,000 others.
US President Donald Trump has said he will decide within two weeks on whether the US military will get directly involved in the conflict.
Araghchi said that Iran’s attacks on Israel’s targets in the occupied territories are the country’s “legitimate right” to defend itself against the regime’s aggression.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip said on Saturday that, “We are optimistic that Iran will win. Israel attacked Iran during the negotiations (between Tehran and Washington)”. He also denounced the international community’s inaction over the Israel's aggression.
The strikes on Iran came two days before a sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington had been scheduled to take place in Oman.
In an interview with NBC on Friday, Araghchi said the US was not genuinely interested in diplomacy and had merely used talks as a “cover” for the Israel’s aggression against Iran.
The Iranian top diplomat said that Iran is uncertain whether it can trust the US in diplomatic talks after the Israeli aggression.
“So they had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up,” he said. “We don’t know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal to diplomacy.”
During the interview, which was conducted in Geneva after he held talks with European top diplomats, Araghchi dismissed the idea of negotiations as long as Israel continues its attacks on Iran.
The foreign minister also said Iran would not give up uranium enrichment as the US President Donald Trump has demanded, pointing out he had made that clear to US envoy in nuclear talks Steve Witkoff.
In Geneva, Araghchi held talks with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain as well as the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if the aggression stops and the aggressor is held accountable for its crimes. In this regard, we made it clear that Iran’s capabilities, including its missile capabilities, are non-negotiable,” the foreign minister told the European officials.