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Iran does not want Israel conflict to expand "unless it’s imposed on us," foreign minister says
From CNN’s Jessie Yeung and Alireza Hajihosseini
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier this month.
Hassan Ammar/AP/File
Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran does not want the conflict with Israel to expand to a wider regional war “unless it’s imposed on us.”
Abbas Araghchi added that his country had been ready to continue nuclear negotiations with the US, but that Israel’s strikes on Friday had disrupted those talks and showed Israel’s “opposition to any form of negotiation.”
“It is absolutely clear that the Israeli regime does not want any agreement on the nuclear issue; it does not want negotiations, and it does not want diplomacy,” Araghchi said in a meeting with foreign ambassadors broadcast on state-run media. “The attack on Iran in the midst of nuclear talks clearly demonstrates the Israeli regime’s opposition to any form of negotiation.”
Araghchi said that Iran’s strikes on Israel have targeted both military and economic infrastructure and criticized Israel’s strikes on Iranian petrochemical refineries as risking a broader regional conflict.
We don’t want to expand this war to other countries or the region unless it’s imposed on us,” he said.
US President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday morning that the US “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight.” He then warned: “If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.”
But Araghchi was skeptical. “From our perspective, (Israel’s) aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran could not have occurred without the agreement and support of the United States,” he said, claiming Iran had “solid evidence” of US support behind the strikes – though he did not say what the evidence was.
Unfortunately Iranian AD was rather predictably never up to the task and this is a fatal issue without an airforce. This has quickly descended into, barring external involvement, Israels capacity to keep up attacks vs Iran's ability to absorb the blows and still hit back in salvos. The cost has to be much greater still to get Israel to agree to ceasefire any time soon.
The survivabillity and nimbleness of Iranian missile stocks and launchers is now key. Hezbollah seemingly kept holding back, and eventually its capability to hit back got degraded significantly - must dominate escalation ladder with Israel. Interesting to see whether Iran can continue to escalate throughout the coming days, starting tonight.
