Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh has warned that the US joining Israel’s strikes would have “hellish consequences” for the entire region, the BBC reports.
Khatibzadeh told the BBC in an interview that “this is not America’s war” and that if US President Donald Trump decides to intervene, he will always be remembered as “the president who got involved in a foreign war”. He said US involvement would turn the conflict into a full-blown war and delay the end of the brutal violence.
The politician’s comments follow the strikes on a hospital in southern Israel. Iranian media, however, reported that the missile strike targeted a military facility next to the hospital, not a medical facility. The Israeli Health Ministry reported that 71 people were injured in the strike.
The Israeli army said that its targets were Iran’s nuclear facilities. Tehran has not provided any information about casualties in the strikes.
As the heavy missile strikes continue, the White House said on the 19th of June that
Trump will make a decision on direct US military involvement within two weeks.
In an interview with the British broadcaster, Khatibzadeh insisted that diplomacy comes first, but that no talks can begin while Iran is under attack. The politician repeatedly referred to Article 51 of the UN Charter, which allows a country to defend itself against military attack, and noted that diplomatic talks were held before the escalation on the 13th of June, when Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. He called the conflict unmotivated and unnecessary.
Responding to Trump’s repeated comments that the conflict would not have escalated if Iran had agreed to the nuclear deal, Katibzadeh said that the talks were held, but then Israel sabotaged them by attacking Iran. “We were planning to have the sixth round of nuclear talks in Muscat, and we were actually on the verge of reaching an agreement.
President Trump knows better than anybody else that we were on the verge of reaching an agreement,”
the Iranian said. He also criticized Trump’s contradictory and confusing social media posts and interviews.
Israel believes Iran is enriching uranium to a level that could be used for nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that Iran has stockpiled enough uranium to 60% enrichment (very close to weapons-grade) to potentially produce nuclear bombs. Khatibzadeh dismissed the claim, saying that if Iran wanted to make a bomb, it would have already done so.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has warned that, regardless of the context or situation, nuclear facilities should never be attacked, as this could cause harm to both people and the environment.
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