In an address to the Eurasian Economic Forum, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian talked about the precarious situation that unfolded in the wake of Israeli aggression against Iran, noting that had Iran not effectively responded to the regime’s attacks, the whole region would have been dragged into an all-out conflagration.
He emphasized that Iran’s measured response, rooted in the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, was critical in averting a wider, and potentially catastrophic, regional war. “Had it gone unanswered,” Pezeshkian asserted, the Israeli attacks “could have spilled into a widespread and uncontrollable war across the region.”
The President’s focus centered on the war that began on June 13th, when Israel launched a full-scale assault on Iranian soil. The aggression targeted military and nuclear facilities, resulting in casualties among Iran’s military leadership, scientific personnel, and civilians. Israel launched the war against Iran after its relentless assaults in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria remained largely answered by Arab rulers in the region during the past 20 months.
The conflict with Iran was further exacerbated on June 22nd, when the United States joined the fray, launching airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear sites. Pezeshkian described these actions as blatant violations of international law, the UN Charter, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
He underscored that “the military attacks by the U.S. and the Zionist regime on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities, which were under full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are a gross violation of all international rules.” Iran responded to the American airstrikes by launching missiles toward al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a significant U.S. military base in the region. For its response to Israel, Iran pounded various military, intelligence, and nuclear-related sites in the occupied territories.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Pezeshkian highlighted the fact that the American and Israeli attacks occurred during ongoing, albeit indirect, discussions between Iran and the United States about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. He further emphasized that even facilities under IAEA supervision were targeted. He maintained that, in this situation, “the Israeli regime’s brutal acts of aggression and illegal armed terrorist attacks” aimed to derail the existing negotiations.
Beyond the immediate conflict, Pezeshkian discussed the need to abandon appeasement towards the Zionist regime, given its systemic human rights violations, and emphasized the forum as an opportunity to condemn these acts of aggression. The President stated: “The aggression also inflicted an irreparable blow to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
