Iran has ruled out the possibility of a ceasefire amid ongoing hostilities, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei saying Tehran will focus solely on defense and retaliation as long as attacks against the country continue.Speaking to the Iranian Student News Network, Baghaei said that Iran will continue to target facilities used by those it describes as aggressors while avoiding confrontation with neighboring Islamic countries.“There is no point in talking about anything other than defense and crushing revenge against enemies,” Baghaei said, stressing that Iran will continue to defend itself as the strikes continue.He also denied allegations that Iran had launched attacks against Turkey, Azerbaijan and Cyprus, claiming instead that such incidents were “false attacks” aimed at implicating Tehran and escalating tensions in the region.
Baghaei reiterated that Iran “does not have a war to fight with its Muslim neighbors.” He added that Tehran’s operations only target sites used by enemy forces. According to him, these actions are part of what Iran describes as its legitimate right to self-defense.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday also issued an apology for recent Iranian strikes on neighboring countries allied with the United States, as the conflict in West Asia enters its second week.
He said that Tehran will refrain from attacking neighboring countries unless it launches attacks against Iran first.In a speech broadcast on state television, Pezeshkian said he regretted the strikes and stressed that Iran did not intend to target neighboring countries. According to Agence France-Presse, it was reported that the Interim Command Council in Iran decided to stop further attacks on neighboring countries unless an attack on Iran was launched from its territory.“I must apologize on my own behalf and on behalf of Iran to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran,” Pezeshkian said. He added that the Council agreed that “no more attacks will be launched on neighboring countries and no missiles will be launched unless an attack on Iran is launched from those countries.”Baghaei also accused the United States of seeking Iranian oil resources and seeking to weaken the country and possibly fragment it, saying that Washington’s broader goal is to undermine Iran’s stability.These statements come at a time when tensions remain high in West Asia, with the continued exchange of missiles and drones across parts of the Gulf and neighboring regions. Iran has repeatedly said that its military actions are retaliatory measures in response to attacks and pressure exerted by its opponents.
