00:08Joining me on 12 Minutes with is Ali Bahraini,
00:13Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iran to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva.
00:19Ambassador, two weeks into the ongoing war,
00:23Tehran and other cities in Iran are under fire.
00:27The Supreme Leader Khamenei has been killed.
00:29How do you evaluate the current situation?
00:33The aggression continues and the more the war continues,
00:37more attacks are made against the civilian infrastructures and civilian targets.
00:46And there is no red line, no respect for international law,
00:51for international humanitarian law, and it is a blatant aggression against Iran.
00:56Ambassador, would you agree that it has been rather easy for the U.S. and Israel
01:03within the first two weeks of attacking and the war in Iran?
01:08No, it has not been an easy war for them.
01:11It is an observation which is accepted by everybody that the United States was suffering from a big miscalculation.
01:22They believe that they are able to defeat Iran in a few days, but the response they received was very
01:32strong.
01:32Ambassador, Iran's foreign minister said, I will quote him,
01:36We've had two decades to study defeats of the U.S. military to our immediate east and west.
01:42We have incorporated lessons accordingly.
01:45Bombing in our capital have no impact on our ability to conduct the war.
01:52And yet the impact has been significant for Iran.
01:55Our country has been able for this war.
01:58While we were negotiating, the advice to our military forces has been to be prepared for this war.
02:04And they have prepared themselves.
02:07Of course, the number of civilian casualties is high because the aggressors are targeting civilian infrastructures,
02:19the civilian targets, and in one individual case, they have attacked one school in Minab,
02:29which led to the massacre of more than 160 students.
02:34Ambassador, but Iran is doing it similarly when it comes to the Gulf states,
02:40when it comes to the attacks on the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar.
02:44These are also not only the U.S. military bases that have been targeted by Iran, but also infrastructure.
02:53No, I cannot accept that claim.
02:57Our military forces have been instructed to exclusively target military bases,
03:04which are used by the United States against our country.
03:08Ambassador, but there have been attacks by Iran on the airports,
03:13on the residential buildings, on the hotels across the Gulf states.
03:18We have people on the ground in the United Arab Emirates, in Qatar.
03:22And these people, the journalists, our correspondents,
03:24have been documenting the attacks on non-military sites.
03:28As I told you, there might be some operations made by, not by Iran,
03:36maybe by the United States or Israel in those countries to attribute it to Iran.
03:42But one fact to share with you is that sometimes the U.S. military is using some locations,
03:51which seemingly it is civil, but actually it is a military center.
03:59It should be considered as a legitimate target for Iran.
04:03What would be the purpose of the U.S. and Israel targeting these civilian sites across the Gulf?
04:10When you are talking about the United States and Israel,
04:17you shouldn't look for any reasonable argument or any reasonable intention.
04:24Their intention is to drag those countries into war.
04:28Ambassador, Iran-made drones also targeted to British base in Cyprus,
04:34while also NATO air defense systems intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles
04:39heading towards already entering Turkish airspace.
04:43What about these attacks?
04:44Why Iran is looking at the British base in Cyprus and towards NATO airspace towards Turkey?
04:52Our officials have rejected this news about making any attack in the space of Turkey.
05:04And our president was in conversation with the Turkish president.
05:10And I think it has become quite clear for them that there has been no any attack from our side
05:16to that country.
05:18And therefore, we are not going to attack any center or location which is not used to attack our country.
05:26Does that also include the European countries where the U.S. forces might also be stationed or they're using them?
05:35Let me make it clear, it has been a policy which has been pronounced and announced by our military forces.
05:43Any facility, any base which is used to attack against Iran would be a legitimate target for our military forces.
05:55Including any sites that are in Europe?
05:59In order to defend our country, we will defend our country according to what we need to make our country
06:09secure
06:10and to make sure that there is no any aggression against our country.
06:15Ambassador, but within your own country, Iran is attacking its own civilians.
06:19No.
06:20You rejected the claim?
06:22Yes.
06:24But there is proof that the civilians were attacked.
06:29By Iran?
06:30Yes.
06:30The civilians in Iran, the protesters in Iran.
06:33It was a complicated scenario which was planned and followed by the United States and Israel against the security of
06:42Iran.
06:43If you look at the evidences and incidents in Iran, in the early days, it was peaceful demonstrations which received
06:53respect and recognition by our government.
06:56But at a later stage, it was transformed to a very organized terrorist activity against the security of our people.
07:06If you look at the gatherings in the streets of Iran nowadays, there are millions of people coming into the
07:13streets in order to defend the country.
07:17Ambassador, Iran threatens to mine or blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
07:23That sent global oil prices spiking.
07:26I want to ask how Iran is going to do that, whether this is still the plan.
07:31And also, wouldn't it strangle Iran's own economy in this case?
07:36Iran has not any intention to block the Strait of Hormuz.
07:42There is a war around the Strait of Hormuz.
07:46There is the exchange of fire.
07:48Iran, of course, is protecting the Strait of Hormuz.
07:53It should be and it can be used by everybody as far as there is no any threat, as far
08:00as there is no any war on that region.
08:03The only limitation or restraint that we will impose is on the ships belonging to those countries who have any
08:16kind of involvement in the war against Iran.
08:19Of course, the situation in Hormuz affects the global economy.
08:24We are not happy with that.
08:26It will affect the economy of Iran, too.
08:30We do not reject it.
08:31But, Ambassador, it was Iranian officials who said they will close the Strait of Hormuz and they're ready to do
08:38that.
08:39Of course, our country is ready for any scenario, if it is necessary.
08:44What we are trying to prevent is that the U.S. navies are approaching to our borders and creating threats
08:56against our security.
08:58What do you see as the end game?
09:01Our purpose is to end this vicious circle of negotiating and being attacked.
09:08We want to continue our defensive action to reach to a point that the aggression is stopped.
09:19They should come to a new understanding that they cannot defeat Iran.
09:27Is Iran ready to talk to the U.S.?
09:30Iran has been open to diplomacy before and it was U.S. who attacked us during diplomacy.
09:36They did it two times, one in June and the second time this time.
09:44And, of course, Iran did not abandon the diplomatic canal.
09:49Iran was negotiating.
09:51Is there a contact now between Iran and the U.S. now, two weeks into the war?
09:56As far as I know, there hasn't been any contact between Iran and the United States.
10:03Of course, there are some efforts by some countries, by some leaders, in order to reactivate the diplomatic canals.
10:16But I'm not sure if there is any serious initiative developed so far.
10:23The U.S. and Israel said one of the targets and the main goals there is the change of the
10:27regime.
10:28And we saw them specifically going after Iranian authorities and the regime leaders.
10:34Who is in charge at the moment in Iran?
10:36In Iran, the political system is working very efficiently.
10:43Although we have lost our supreme leader, but a new leader has been elected by the Council of Experts.
10:54I think it has two important messages.
10:59The first message is the stability in Iran, if a country is able to elect its leader during such a
11:08war.
11:09Secondly, it is a sign of continuity in our country.
11:14And there is no vacuum in our country now.
11:19There is, though, a confusion because we've heard the president apologizing to the Gulf countries.
11:26The president's message was misunderstood.
11:30He said that we will not attack and we have not attacked any base or location which has not been
11:39involved in military operation against Iran.
11:43And he was trying to explain for our neighboring countries that this is not a war against our neighboring countries.
11:51Ambassador, thank you. I appreciate you being on Euronews.
11:54Thank you very much.
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