Iran: Ceasefire with US Pointless without Clear Guarantees
Tehran must receive clear guarantees from the United States in order to conclude a ceasefire agreement, otherwise the deal will be pointless, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stressed as Washington's war on Tehran nears its one-month mark.
"At present, our policy is to continue resistance, and no talks have taken place," the ranking diplomat said in a televised interview on Wednesday."There are no negotiations underway," he reiterated, questioning the reliability of outside assurances.Regional diplomatic contacts have taken place, but Tehran’s position has not changed, the minister stated, adding, “Many foreign ministers from the region have contacted Tehran, but Iran’s position has remained ‘principled and firm.’""International guarantees are not 100 percent reliable," Araqchi stated in reference to reported endeavours by some third countries to act as intermediaries towards ending the unlawful aggression that has prompted decisive retaliation on the part of Iran."Through the inherent guarantee that we created ourselves, no one will dare again to go to war with the Iranian people,” he added, pointing to the Iranian reprisal that has seen the country's Armed Forces launch at least 81 waves of unrelenting counterattacks against sensitive and strategic American and Israeli targets throughout the region.
The foreign minister asserted, "A ceasefire without guarantees is a vicious cycle that only leads to the repetition of war.""The enemy must learn a lesson so that it never again even contemplates launching another attack, and the damages suffered by the Iranian people must be compensated," he emphasized.He also said recent developments had proved how allowing the United States to set up outposts inside regional territories would compromise the security of the host countries rather than contributing to their stability."This war revealed many truths, one of them being that US bases not only failed to provide security for the host countries, but, in fact, became a source of insecurity for them," he added.Araqchi was referencing the numerous occasions in which the Iranian Armed Forces have pummeled the US outposts in regional states such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in retaliation for the assault and the host countries' collaboration with the aggressors.
"If these countries are being struck, it is because of the presence of those bases," he said.“My message to the countries of the region is that they must definitely distance themselves from this American-Zionist onslaught against the soil and people of Iran, and separate themselves from this war," the top diplomat added.The foreign minister also lamented some regional countries' having stated previously that they would not allow their respective soils to be used against Iran before going back on their words.“We cannot believe that this occurred without those countries being aware of it,” he stated.Araqchi commented on the trajectory followed by the raids as well as Iran's determined counterstrikes that have witnessed the Armed Forces fire hundreds of ballistic and hypersonic missiles as well as attack drones against hostile objects.The enemy failed to accomplish several of its objectives, including dividing the country, securing a swift victory, and undermining domestic cohesion, he continued.Iran's reprisal has gone down as "a golden moment" in its history, with the country preventing two nuclear-armed aggressors from reaching their goals, the minister said.The sheer triumph of the retaliation, he added, was witnessed by the aggressors' speaking of talks with the Islamic Republic, despite urging at the beginning that Tehran had to "unconditionally surrender".
"The fact that they are now talking about negotiations is itself an admission of defeat. Weren’t they the ones talking about ‘unconditional surrender’? So why are they now mobilizing their highest-ranking officials to pursue negotiations?” Araqchi asked.On the Strait of Hormuz, which was closed since the onset of the assault late last month, the senior diplomat said the strategic waterway remained open to friendly countries."For some countries that we identified as our friends, we allowed passage through the Strait of Hormuz. We allowed China, Russia, India, Iraq, and Pakistan to pass,” he continued, adding, "There is no reason for us to allow our enemy to pass through the Strait of Hormuz."
The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial onslaught on Iran in late February, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked assault on the country.The strikes led to the martyrdom of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, and more than 1,300 people, including women and children, as well as military commanders.Iran began to swiftly and firmly retaliate against the raids by firing barrages of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.
11:00 - 6 فروردین 1405
