“My country is under attack based on lies, flat lies,” said Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister while addressing the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi on Friday.
“One day the U.S. would say a nuclear programme was happening in Iran, the other day they would say because Iran was posing an imminent threat, then they would say change the political structure of Iran.”
He said the attacks took place just when Iran and the US were negotiating an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme with Oman mediating. It was modelled on the 2015 deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Trump, in his first tenure, had walked out of the deal.
“We nailed down a practical agreement in Geneva,” Khatibzadeh said, “(But) this is a TV reality show. They (the U.S.) invite you to diplomacy while they are making military build-up and there is no actual understanding of why they started this?”
“It is because of the power politics, because of Greater Israel, because of the Prime Minister of Israel… They are carpet bombing Iran out of frustration because they would like to see a new Middle East. They would like to put an end to the existence of Iran,” he claimed.
He said Iran and the United States were “on the same page” on the new deal, before the attacks began.
“America has decided to put an end to the existence of Iran. Israelis have been promising this for many decades because of their delusion about Greater Israel. And, this is our response. We have no option but to put an end to the US’ existence in the surrounding areas of Iran,” he warned.
Last month, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi reported “unprecedented progress” in indirect talks held in Geneva and Muscat. He indicated that a comprehensive peace deal was “within reach,” involving a commitment from Iran to “never, ever have nuclear material” capable of producing a bomb.
Despite this on February 28, Israel in collusion with the United States launched air strikes on Iran. He said the US has multiple military bases, equipment, assets and command and control centres across the Persian Gulf that are aimed at Iran.
“The US has unlawfully, illegally, recklessly assassinated and martyred our leader. But the government, the country and the society are going on… They are trying to take revenge for the 1979 revolution under which we expelled America out of Iran. They are taking revenge for that, this is power politics,” said Khatibzadeh. “The U.S. has violated all the laws… This is an unnecessary war of choice.”
Despite repeated attempts by the United States to trigger unrest in Iran, Tehran never responded the way it is doing now. He said, this time, the US is launching attacks on Iran from countries that are located around Iran.
“There is not a single casualty in the Arab world, because we are just attacking the US bases and US assets in these countries,” he claimed.
Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, apart from Israel, Iran and its regional proxies have launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes against the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan among others.
