Iran not after tension, informed US of retaliatory operation against Israel: Foreign minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Tehran informed the United States of its plan to carry out strikes against Israel in retaliation for the regime’s terrorist attack on the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic premises in Syria.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks while speaking to IRNA early on Thursday upon his arrival in New York to attend a United Nations Security Council session on Palestine.
He said Tehran had informed Washington of its decision to punish Israel in line with the international law and legitimate right to self-defense following Israel’s attacks against the consular section of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus and the killing of its military advisors earlier this month.
Following Israel’s bloody airstrikes, Iran told the UN secretary general that the Security Council must fulfill its duty to counter the regime’s measures.
After the retaliatory response — dubbed Operation True Promise — on Sunday, Iran sent another message to the US through diplomatic channels to explicitly announce that it does not seek an escalation of tensions in the region, he added.
The top Iranian diplomat warned that Israel’s behavior can lead to more tensions in the region.
Before the military operation against Israel, Iran told the US that it had no plan to hit American bases and interests in the region unless Washington carried out any measure to support the Tel Aviv regime’s aggression, Amir-Abdollahian explained.
In a multi-pronged attack, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at the occupied territories in response to Israel’s aggression on the Iranian diplomatic facilities in Damascus on April 1.
All the hypersonic missiles used in Iran
The Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus killed two generals of the Quds Force of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as well as five of their accompanying officers.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Amir-Abdollahian said the regional developments and the situation in the Gaza Strip have reached a “boiling point” and added that the Security Council’s meeting will be an opportunity to outline Iran’s stance on the necessity to establish sustainable peace and security in the region.
The Iranian foreign minister noted that he will hold talks with the UN chief and his counterparts as well as a number of senior heads of international bodies about an immediate end to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip and the dispatch of humanitarian aid to the war-stricken people.
Israel launched the brutal campaign in the Gaza Strip on October 7. The death toll from the regime’s genocidal atrocities now tops 34,000, mostly women and children.
