Iran says won’t strike neighbors unless attacked from them

from Daily Sabah

Iran will not target its neighbors unless attacks are launched from them during the war with Israel and the United States, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday.

"I must apologize on my own behalf and on behalf of Iran to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran," said Pezeshkian in a speech broadcast on state TV.

"The interim leadership council agreed yesterday that no more attacks will be made on neighboring countries and no missiles will be fired unless an attack on Iran originates from those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy," he said.

The leadership council has been leading Iran since Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, killing the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggering a regional conflict.

Iran has since responded with missile and drone strikes on Israel and U.S. interests in regional countries, mainly in the Gulf.

Pezeshkian is among three members of an interim leadership council that has been in charge of Iran since Khamenei's killing.

He also dismissed U.S.-Israeli demands to surrender, saying that would “never happen.”

 

Iran's enemies "must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves," Pezeshkian said.

There was no foreseeable end to the fighting. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration approved a new $151 million arms sale to Israel after Trump said he would not negotiate with Iran without its "unconditional surrender" and U.S. officials warned of a forthcoming bombing campaign they said would be the most intense yet in the weeklong conflict.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a television interview on Friday that the "biggest bombing campaign" of the war was still to come.

Iran's U.N. ambassador said the country would "take all necessary measures" to defend itself.

Associated Press video showed explosions flashing and smoke rising over western Tehran as Israel said it had begun a broad wave of strikes.

The U.S. and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, claiming to target its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The stated goals and timelines for the war have repeatedly shifted, as the U.S. has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran's government or elevate new leadership from within.

The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed.

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