Iran ‘committed to peace’ but not hesitant in defence: Pezeshkian
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that while his country remains "committed to sustainable peace in the region," it will not "hesitate a bit in defending its dignity and authority."
Writing on X on Friday, Pezeshkian said his government has been approached by some countries to mediate between Iran and a US-Israeli coalition, but insisted that the subject of any mediation efforts must be "those who, by undermining the Iranian people, ignited the fire."
The United States and Israel have been attacking Iran since February 26 amid ongoing nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington. On the first day of the attacks on Tehran, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several top Iranian military commanders were martyred. Iran responded with widespread missile and drone attacks against Israel and US bases in the region.
Meanwhile, the Iranian envoy to the United Nations once again condemned the "brutal and illegal" aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime on Iranian soil, stating his country "will continue to exercise its inherent and legitimate right of self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, and in this regard, will take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, people, and vital national interests."
In a letter to the Security Council, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the Security Council, and other senior officials of the international body on Friday, Amir-Saeid Iravani said Iran "will take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, people, and vital national interests."
The Iranian diplomat called upon the United Nations to urge the United States and the Israeli regime "to immediately cease all military aggressive acts against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, put an end to deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian property, which constitute a gross violation of international humanitarian law."
Iravani also requested the international body to ensure "accountability and responsibility for the gross violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Iranian civilian population and infrastructure, both past and ongoing."
Reminiscent of Nazi era
Saied Khatibzadeh, the Iranian deputy minister of foreign affairs, denounced the US Army’s targeting of the Iranian warship Dena this week.
The destroyer was targeted by a US submarine and sunk while returning from a joint naval exercise with India off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing more than 80 crew members.
“The sinking of an Iranian ship on its way back from this mission is very regrettable and indeed a very unfortunate incident,” the Iranian diplomat, who was in Delhi to meet his Indian counterparts, told reporters on Friday.
Stating that the Iranian warship was part of the exercise at the invitation of Indian friends, Khatibzadeh said, “This presence had a purely ceremonial nature; the vessel was unarmed and carried no military cargo.”
Khatibzadeh emphasized, “The only precedent that can be found for such an action dates back to the Nazi era in Germany, when they attacked unarmed ships outside the conflict zone. The Americans are actually following the same procedure as seen during the Nazi era.”
“Many young Iranian sailors who were present to participate in this exercise lost their lives, and such an action cannot remain without a response and without accountability for its perpetrators,” added the senior Iranian official.
“The United States has created another tragedy, this time 2,000 miles away from Iranian shores in international waters,” Iranian Foreign Minister Amir‑Abbas Araqchi wrote on X on Friday.
Araqchi noted that the Iranian ship was hit without warning, emphasizing: “You will see; the United States will deeply regret
the precedent it has set.”