Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country is prepared for any war Israel might wage against it, adding he was not optimistic about the ceasefire between the countries, while confirming Tehran is committed to continuing its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes.
Pezeshkian made the comments in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera aired on Wednesday, which was the Iranian leader’s first televised interview since the end of the 12-day conflict with Israel last month, in which the United States intervened on Israel’s behalf, launching strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The comments come as Western nations say they are seeking a solution to Iran’s ongoing nuclear ambitions in the wake of the conflict, amid reports that strikes on its nuclear facilities were less damaging than claimed by Washington.
“We are fully prepared for any new Israeli military move, and our armed forces are ready to strike deep inside Israel again,” Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera.
Iran was not relying on the ceasefire that ended the 12-day war to hold, he said.
“We are not very optimistic about it,” said Pezeshkian.
“That is why we have prepared ourselves for any possible scenario and any potential response. Israel has harmed us, and we have also harmed it. It has dealt us powerful blows, and we have struck it hard in its depths, but it is concealing its losses.”
He added that Israel’s strikes, which assassinated leading military figures and nuclear scientists, and damaged nuclear facilities, had sought to “eliminate” Iran’s hierarchy, “but it has completely failed to do so”.
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More than 900 people were killed in Iran, large numbers of them civilians, and at least 28 people were killed in Israel before a ceasefire took hold on June 24.
Enrichment programme will continue
Pezeshkian said Iran would continue its uranium enrichment programme despite international opposition, saying the development of its nuclear abilities would be carried out “within the framework of international laws”.
“[US President Donald] Trump says that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and we accept this because we reject nuclear weapons and this is our political, religious, humanitarian and strategic position,” he said.
“We believe in diplomacy, so any future negotiations must be according to a win-win logic, and we will not accept threats and dictates.”
He said the claim from Trump “that our nuclear programme is over is just an illusion”.
“Our nuclear capabilities are in the minds of our scientists and not in the facilities,” he said.
Pezeshkian’s comments echoed earlier remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News aired Monday that Tehran would never abandon its uranium enrichment programme, but was open to a negotiated solution to its nuclear ambitions, in which it would guarantee that the programme was for peaceful purposes in response for the lifting of sanctions.
Israel sought to ‘overthrow’ leadership
Pezeshkian also addressed an attempt by Israel to assassinate him at a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council in Tehran on June 15, which was reported to have left him with minor injuries.
Asked about the assassination attempt, he said it had been part of a plan by Israeli commanders to target Iran’s political leadership in the wake of its assassination of senior military figures, in a bid “to put the country into chaos in order to overthrow it completely”.
But the plan had failed, he said.
He also stressed that Tehran’s strikes on Qatar’s Al Udeid base in the wake of US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities had not been an attack on Qatar and its people.
“We do not even have a thought or imagination that there should be hostility or rivalry between us and the state of Qatar,” he said, adding that he had called Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the day of the strikes to explain his position.
“I say clearly and honestly that we did not attack the State of Qatar, but we attacked a base for America that bombed our country while all our intentions towards Qatar and its people are good and positive.”
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Talks with European powers to resume
Araghchi said on Monday that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization is still evaluating how the attacks last month had affected Iran’s enriched material, saying Tehran would soon inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its findings.
He said Iran had not stopped cooperation with the IAEA, adding that any request for the IAEA to send inspectors back to Iran would be “carefully considered”.
IAEA inspectors left Iran earlier this month after Pezeshkian signed a law suspending cooperation with the agency.
Meanwhile, talks are set to take place between Iran, France, Germany and the UK in Turkiye on Friday.
The three European parties to the former Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Tehran signed with several world powers in 2015 before the US pulled out in 2018, have said Tehran’s failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on it.
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