Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says Iran’s assaults on US targets throughout the area are professional defensive actions.
Revealed On 28 Feb 2026
Iran is entitled to defend itself from Israeli and US assaults, the spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs has burdened.
“We’ve each proper in accordance with worldwide legislation, with the UN Constitution, to defend ourselves with all would possibly”, Esmaeil Baghaei stated in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday.
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The US and Israel launched a wave of assaults throughout a number of Iranian cities, together with Tehran, on Saturday, in what US President Donald Trump described as “main fight operations”.
A minimum of 201 folks have been killed, in accordance with Iranian media, citing the Pink Crescent.
Iran responded by firing missiles in the direction of Israel and US navy targets in a number of international locations, together with Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Baghaei stated the nation’s armed forces “are defending nationwide sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Iran towards these barbaric acts of aggression”.
The US-Israeli assaults got here after a 3rd spherical of oblique negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme between the US and Iran ended on Friday.
“We had been supposed to satisfy on Monday to speak about technical points of any doable deal on [the] nuclear concern,” Baghaei stated. “And the People themselves acknowledged that these negotiations went fairly effectively. The mediator, [the] international minister of Oman, certified this spherical of negotiations as being of serious progress.”
It was the second time in lower than a yr that diplomacy had been scuttled by an assault on Iran, Baghaei famous. Iran and the US had engaged in a number of rounds of negotiations final yr, when Israel launched a 12-day battle on Iran in June, which the US briefly joined, regardless of Trump saying he was dedicated to a diplomatic decision.
Baghaei stated the US “launching an act of aggression towards one other member of the United Nations” additionally threatened the worldwide physique, as its predominant pillar, “the UN Constitution, is the supply of the usage of power.”
“So, I feel what’s at stake isn’t solely the safety and peace of the area and that of Iran, but additionally the entire material of worldwide legislation. And the normative system that has been created by the United Nations Constitution,” he added.
Buddies within the area
Baghaei defended Iran’s retaliatory assaults in a number of international locations throughout the area.
“Underneath worldwide legislation, anyplace, any location, any logistical help which are given to the aggressor [is a] professional goal for the sufferer state,” he stated. “So, we’re not attacking any nation within the area. We’re pleasant with all international locations of the area. What we’re doing is simply taking defensive actions.”
“We’ve confirmed that we belief our pals within the area,” Baghaei stated. “That’s why we attempt to get along with the international locations of the area in furtherance of this diplomatic course of. The issue is that america is conducting this battle of aggression at the price of everybody, together with the international locations of the area.”
