Moderate Response to Israeli Aggression
In Exchange for Ceasefire in Gaza, Iran Offers To Minimize Impact of Iranian Retaliation
Iran offered Israel the opportunity to implement an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and stop killing civilians across the region, if the Zionist state seeks to minimize the impact of the upcoming Iranian retaliation to aggression against the country in the last month.
“If they make a revision in their behavior, accept a ceasefire and stop killing the oppressed and innocent people of the region, it could have an effect on the type and intensity of our response,” Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday 3 November.
Pezeshkian was addressing the press after a cabinet meeting in Tehran. He asserted that nothing can deter Iran from abandoning its right to respond to Israeli violations of its territorial sovereignty.
Violating international laws and Iranian sovereignty, Israel launched air strikes in three different provinces of Iran, Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam on 26 October, in which four armed personnel and a civilian were killed, and some military equipment destroyed.
Israel claimed the attacks were in response to Iranians launching hundreds of missiles inside Israel in the beginning of October in retaliation against the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh when he was a guest in Tehran in July, and several officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Corp (IRGC) during its attacks in Lebanon.
Pezeshkian’s statement on Sunday came a day after Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned both Israel and the US of strong Iranian retaliation against the attacks on the country. Khamenei was addressing students during a ceremony for “National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance,” also called “National Students Day,” in Tehran.
Pezeshkian also denounced US unconditional support of Israel. “We have never initiated war, nor have we urged any country to engage in conflict. It is the United States that has repeatedly ignited wars worldwide, including in our region” he said.
American and European governments aid Israeli war crimes
Pointing out that while they urged Iranians to exercise patience after Israel assassinated Haniyeh in Tehran in a clear violation of Iranian sovereignty, none of the European countries asked Israel to stop its warmongering and crimes of killing thousands of innocents and children in Gaza and Lebanon.
Pezeshkian questioned whether they are really interested in peace, citing repeated US and European attempts to block the ceasefire resolutions and continued supplies of weapons to Israel.
Last week, European members of the UN Security Council, along with the US, invoked Israel’s “right to self-defense” during a discussion on its attacks on Iran. They refused to criticize Israeli aggression, and instead asked Iran not to retaliate.
The US and the UK threatened “severe consequences” if Iran retaliated to Israeli aggression during the UN meeting. The US repeated the threat on Sunday, claiming they will “not be able to restrain” Israeli attacks at civilian targets next time if Iran responds.
The US has been claiming that it has persuaded Israel to limit its attacks in Iran to military installations and not to target its energy infrastructure or nuclear sites.
Pezeshkian called the stance taken by the US and its European allies “shameful and disgraceful.”
He claimed that Iran has “never dropped bombs and missiles on the women and children of any country and we have never deprived any people of water, food, and medicine, but they have committed all these crimes against humanity” referring Israel’s bombardment shelters, hospitals and houses of ordinary citizens in Gaza and Lebanon for over a year now, killing over 46,000 people and displacing millions.