An 'existential war' for Iran: Dy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khatibzadeh

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh calls the recent US-Israel strikes an "unnecessary war of choice", accusing Washington of betraying diplomacy

The United States and Israel attacked Iran earlier this month, “based on lies”, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Saeed Khatibzadeh said in New Delhi on Friday.

 

And, now it has become “an existential war” for Iran, he told Raisina Dialogue, an annual international security conference organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation think tank. 

 

“This is an unnecessary war of choice” the US and Israel are wagging against Iran, he said, accusing the US of betraying diplomacy after recent talks in Geneva on US concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. 

 

Khatibzadeh said 200 children, aged 7 to 11, have been killed in the US and Israel bombings. (Business Standard has not been able to verify this independently.)

 

 

He said the US supports the idea of a “greater Israel” in West Asia, which is a basis of the ongoing conflict.

 

Iran’s counterattacks in the region are against US military bases and assets, he said, adding that Israel had engaged in some “false-flag operations”, making all look like Iranian strikes. 

 

He also said Iran has not shut global trade across the Strait of Hormuz but has barred US- and Israeli-flagged ships from passing through. He said many international insurance companies have withdrawn insurance of cargo vessels and tankers by themselves which has affected trade.