Iran reaffirms willpower to defend sovereignty after renewed US attacks
At least 12 killed in missile strikes on southern cities
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned the new US strikes on Iranian southern cities in the strongest terms, reaffirming Iran’s determination to firmly defend its independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“The US regime, which has been driven to desperation in the face of the Iranian people’s iron will to defend Iran, once again violated Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity on Tuesday night by attacking several civilian areas and infrastructure, including a number of telecommunications towers and sites in the provinces of Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan and Kerman,” the ministry said in a statement after the renewed US missile attacks which claimed the lives of at least 12 Iranians.
The ministry said more than 70 people, most of them women and children, were killed or wounded in one of the US attacks, which targeted a wedding party in Kuhestak in Sirik County, Hormozgan Province.
Footage of ruined decorations, abandoned shoes and debris strewn on the ground circulated widely in Iran following the attack on the wedding celebration that was turned into a funeral.
“Such brutal war crimes, which are a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of international law, are reminiscent of previous American-Zionist crimes over the past year and a half, including in Minab and Lamerd,” the ministry said.
In response to the aggression, Iran’s Armed Forces struck US military bases that had served as the launching points and logistical support for the US military offensive against Iran, the statement said.
The US military also targeted a civilian airport, fishmeal factory and power grids in southern Iran.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed that American forces had launched attacks on targets belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
CENTCOM linked the strikes to what Washington described as recent Iranian actions against commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and US forces in the region.
Iran’s retaliation
The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said that Iran’s Armed Forces responded to the attacks by targeting American outposts across the region with drone and missile strikes.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the IRGC and the Iranian Army launched a coordinated wave of missile and drone strikes against American military positions across Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, inflicting extensive damage on their infrastructure, equipment, and personnel.
The Foreign Ministry in its statement warned the regional countries to prevent US forces from using their facilities and territory to carry out aggressive operations against Iran.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran emphatically calls on the countries of the region to prevent the continuation and expansion of the flames of war in the region by preventing the American aggressors from using their facilities and territory to prepare for and carry out aggressive operations against Iran, and not to allow the sinister American-Zionist plot to impose permanent insecurity on the region to materialize,” it said.