Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Israel’s attacks on his country could not have materialised without the agreement and support of the United States.
“We have well-documented and solid evidence of the support provided by American forces in the region and their bases for the military attacks of the Zionist regime,” Iran’s top diplomat told reporters during a news conference in the capital, Tehran, on Sunday.
He said, more importantly, US President Donald Trump has publicly and explicitly confirmed he knew about the attacks, that they could not have happened without US weapons and equipment, and that more attacks are coming.
“Therefore, the US, in our opinion, is a partner in these attacks and must accept its responsibility.”
Araghchi said Tehran has received messages from Washington through various intermediaries that it was not involved with Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in Isfahan’s Natanz, but it “does not believe this claim” due to evidence to the contrary.
“It is necessary for the US government to clearly state its position and explicitly condemn the attack on nuclear facilities,” he said. “This act is condemned under international law, and our expectation is that the US government, in order to prove its good faith regarding nuclear weapons, will condemn the attack on a peaceful nuclear facility and distance itself from this conflict.”
Pointing out that the Israeli attacks came as Iran and the US were slated to hold a sixth round of nuclear negotiations mediated by Oman on Sunday, Araghchi emphasised that Israel “will do anything” to stop the talks and diplomacy, as it has done in the past.
‘Major strategic mistake’
Iranian authorities said the Israeli attacks, which have targeted residential and military areas in Tehran as well as many cities across the country since Friday, have killed at least 80 people, including civilians.
Multiple top-ranking commanders of the Iranian armed forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were also assassinated, as were a number of nuclear scientists and university professors.
Iran has so far launched two nights of retaliatory attacks on Israel’s Tel Aviv and Haifa, using hundreds of missiles and drones, which have led to at least 10 deaths and dozens of injuries.
Araghchi told reporters that Iran’s attacks overnight into Sunday started targeting Israel’s energy infrastructure after the Israeli army hit refineries, power stations and oil reserves across Iran.
As sounds of explosions and air defences rang across Tehran in the early hours of Sunday, Israel hit a fuel reserve in western Tehran’s Shahran neighbourhood that caused a massive fire. Authorities said the fire was contained after several hours and that most of the fuel in the reserve was taken out before the air raids.
On Saturday, the Israeli military hit Asaluyeh on Iran’s southern shores in the province of Bushehr, hitting Phase 14 of South Pars, the largest gasfield in the world.
Araghchi said the attack was a “major strategic mistake” that was likely carried out deliberately with the intention of dragging other nations into the war.
“The Persian Gulf region is extremely sensitive and complex, and any military development there could involve the entire region, and even the whole world,” he said, using the name of the Gulf, which is also commonly known as the Arabian Gulf.
Iran and Israel have said their attacks will continue for now, and the Israeli military on Sunday issued a threat to Iranians to stay away from what it called “military weapons production factories and their support institutions”, or risk being killed.
But Araghchi said Tehran is willing to stop if Israel halts its attacks, and urged the international community to intervene and condemn Israel.
‘National battle’
Iranian newspapers on Sunday dedicated their front pages to the war, with more hardline outlets manoeuvring on Iran’s attacks while others focusing on a sense of national unity.
Keyhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, published the headline: “We will finish the war and Israel together”, and wrote about “unprecedented damages in occupied territories” caused by the Iranian missiles.
“National battle”, read a headline from the reformist Ham-Mihan, with Etemad newspaper writing about “Israel’s gamble on a minefield” and Sazandegi highlighting “Slap for Tel Aviv” in its headline story.
For the first time in nearly four decades, Iranian state television on Saturday broadcast a victory march. It was last heard in the 1980s during Iran’s eight-year invasion by neighbouring Iraq, which was backed and armed by major powers.
Mehdi Chamran, chairman of the City Council of Tehran, said the capital will soon be forced to use the same shelters used during that war, as well as metro stations and some car parks, as no new dedicated shelters have been built.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Sunday that all flights are cancelled until further notice and tried to assure people that measures are under way to ensure the state can provide basic necessities, including fuel, in case of a prolonged conflict.
The Tehran Chamber of Guilds announced that all business associations, grand bazaars and malls were open in the capital, but government workers were told to work remotely until at least Wednesday, in an indication that Tehran is expected to be hit again.
The Tehran Stock Exchange was also closed on Sunday, with its director saying the decision to keep it closed or open it for Monday will be taken on the day, considering Sunday night’s developments.
Iran’s currency, the rial, has taken another nosedive since the start of the latest conflict, having depreciated from about 840,000 against the US dollar before the Israeli attacks to about 955,000 on Sunday.
Source: Aljazeera
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