US bases in Gulf legit targets: Iran's envoy

Varsity staff hosts condolence reference for supreme leader

LAHORE:

Iranian Consul General in Lahore Mehran Movahedfar has said that his country has no intention to make an atomic bomb but the excuse of nuclear programme is being used as a pretext for war.

Presiding over a condolence reference organised by the Academic Staff Association of the University of Punjab for Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said the 2003 invasion of Iraq and 2011 intervention in Libya had resulted in instability in those countries, but it is a serious misconception of the US and Israel that the same model could be applied to Iran.

He further said that while the International Women's Day was observed across the world, no one raised their voice over the deaths of 185 schoolgirls and the women who had been martyred in the attacks on Iran.

He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had once threatened Pakistan, but he should understand that Pakistan is not an easy target and is a brave nation that would prove a tough challenge.

Mehran Movahedfar said that the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf are Iran's neighbours and brotherly states, and Iran is only targeting enemy bases. "War is not our choice; it is a war for survival, and we will choose our own method of defence," he said, adding that Iran's response would be decisive and that it would continue to defend its territory with determination.

He also said that Iran's main targets are the US military bases used to launch attacks against Iran or provide facilities for such attacks.

He said Israel had tried to expand the conflict through false flag operations by staging attacks on embassies in Cyprus, Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, which Iran condemned.

He appreciated Saudi Arabia's assurance that its airspace, waters or land would not be used against Iran.

Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman Allama Raghib Hussain Naeemi said Iran's steadfastness in the face of war serves as an example for the entire Muslim world. Despite decades of sanctions, Iran has not allowed its resolve to weaken and continues to move forward with determination, he said.