Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has tendered an apology to neighbouring countries in the region affected by retaliatory airstrikes in the week-old conflict against Israel and the United States.
Recall that Iran has launched missile and drone attacks against many US military installations in Gulf nations, including Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait, in response to the US and Israel’s “preemptive” strikes.
Iran’s ambassador to Nigeria, Mahdavi Raja, told TheCable on Thursday that Tehran believed it was within its rights to attack the surrounding Gulf nations, even if they continued to have cordial ties with his nation.
Raja defended the choice by claiming that the US launched several of the strikes from military installations in the neighbouring Arab nations.
Since then, Iran has insisted that it would continue to protect itself against strikes.
However, in a video message broadcast on Iranian state television on Saturday, the president adopted a more subdued tone.
“I deem it necessary to apologise to neighbouring countries that were attacked,” Pezeshkian said. “We do not intend to invade neighbouring countries.”
Masoud Pezeshkian called for regional cooperation to “establish peace and calm”.
Pezeshkian added that a leadership decision has been issued to the armed forces to “not attack neighbouring countries unless attacked first”.
“Those considering exploiting this moment to attack Iran must not become puppets of imperialism,” he said.
He also added that supporting Israel or the US is “not a path to honour and freedom”.
The ministry of defence in Qatar announced shortly after his speech that its armed forces had “intercepted” a missile attack.
Meanwhile, the nation’s infrastructure in Tehran and Isfahan is the target of a “broad wave” of new attacks, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
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