Tehran, SAEDNEWS, Dec. 28: “I said last week that in our view, attacks on diplomatic and residential premises are completely unacceptable. Iranian diplomatic missions in Iraq have come under attack several times. In this particular case, the finger of blame is on the United States itself and its partners and allies in the region, who seek to escalate new tensions. What Trump and Pompeo have said are both condemned and rejected, and the type, timing, and content of these statements and tweets are suspicious and mischievous. We have made our message clear, while we do not seek tension, we defend the interests and national security of Iran with all our power,” Khatibzadeh told reporters via video conference on Monday.
The US Central Command claimed last Wednesday that the Sunday rocket attack on Baghdad's International Zone near the US embassy was "almost certainly conducted by an Iranian-backed rogue militia group".
Khatibzadeh dismissed the allegations, saying, "Such repeated, baseless, and fabricated allegations and accusations by the White House are intended to overshadow Trump's current very difficult circumstances."
"As we have said before, Iran's response to US terrorism is obvious, courageous and so the US regime would do well to use more plausible scenarios to justify its sedition," he said.
“The US and those who hatch conspiracy are responsible and should account for the consequences of these tensions,” he added.
“We have made it clear and warned that the US should account for hatching any conspiracies. We have heard about some mischief and sent a message to the US and friends in the region that the US administration should not embark on a new adventure in the last days of its life in the White House. We have not been looking for tension in the region. We have no doubts about defending the country at all. Everyone has tried and witnessed our responses. We hope those who have a clear mind in Washington decrease tensions,” the diplomat said.
Khatibzadeh dismissed some statements that Iran should not turn Iraq into a battlefield for its conflicts with the US, and said, “Iran has never embarked on dispute settlement in another region. The US has turned the countries of our region into bases for fomenting insecurity against Iran. The neighboring states have sovereignty duties to act upon their responsibilities against the White House rebellion.”
“We do not have any doubt about defending ourselves within the framework of a responsible country and international laws,” he underscored.
Asked about speculations about the possibility for outgoing US President Donald Trump to launch a military attack against Iran, the senior diplomat said, “We, as a state, think of all scenarios and are ready for any scenario, and we have prepared a response for each. We hope that they desist from escalating tension in these last days (of the Trump White House).”
He also underlined Iran's measures at the highest level to pursue assassination of former IRGC Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, and said, "We will not allow the blood of the martyr to be trampled upon and do not allow those who have perpetrated the act to remain safe."
The spokesman further questioned the Israeli regime's claims about dispatching a submarine to the Persian Gulf, and described it more as part of Tel Aviv's propaganda warfare against Tehran, but meantime warned that security of the Persian Gulf is a redline for the Iranian military.
"I don't know the veracity of this report. Everyone knows what the Persian Gulf means to Iran and they know Iran's military policy. [Yet] Don't step into these media games as you may control this psychological operation better," he told the media during the conference.
Elsewhere, Khatibzadeh referred to the European states’ disloyalty to the nuclear deal with Iran, saying that Europe should account for defying and violating the internationally-endorsed agreement.
“This is the last chance for the EU. We have said whenever the other sides act upon their undertakings effectively, Iran will reverse all 5 steps (taken to reduce nuclear deal undertakings in response to the West’s disloyalty),” he stressed.
Khatibzadeh had on Monday blasted attacks on diplomatic and residential regions in Iraq as “unacceptable”, and strongly condemned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's allegations about the Iraqi popular forces' role and responsibility for the Sunday rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.
“Attacks on diplomatic and residential places are not acceptable,” Khatibzadeh told reporters in a press conference in Tehran last Monday after a Sunday night rocket attack on the US embassy compound in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which was immediately followed by a US secretary of state's statement that blamed the Iraqi popular forces close to Iran.
“But the type and time of the attack and the statement issued by the US secretary of state which seems to have been prepared to be released (immediately after the attack) are all very suspicious,” he added (Source: Fars News ).
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