Iran needs guarantees of no future aggression before it can agree to end war: Pezeshkian 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran requests firm guarantees that no military aggression is ever launched against the country in the future before it can agree to end the war if the United States and Israel immediately stop the hostilities.

In a phone conversation with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, Pezeshkian rejected claims by US President Donald Trump that the current military aggression against Iran was aimed at preventing the country from building atomic bombs.

“Iran did not begin the war and the aggressor enemy conducted a military aggression against Iran without any reason, logic and legal basis in the midst of nuclear negotiations,” he said.

He pointed out that the US and Israel assassinated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, top military commanders and defenseless civilians, including innocent school children, and also targeted public infrastructure.

The president reiterated strong opposition of the martyred Leader to building or possessing nuclear weapons, noting that he had given necessary instructions banning such arms.

Pezeshkian also rejected US claims portraying Iran as the source of instability and tensions in the region, saying Israel attacks wherever it likes such as Lebanon, Gaza, Iran, Iraq and Qatar and kills innocent people while attempting to justify its actions under the guise of security.

However, Israel’s acts of aggression have only plunged the region deeper into chaos and conflict, he emphasized.

He said Iran has repeatedly expressed its readiness for international verification and monitoring of its peaceful nuclear activities and strongly condemned the “completely inhumane and immoral” measures of the US and Israel against the Islamic Republic.

Pezeshkian stressed the need to set up a security structure comprising of regional countries to establish peace and stability in the West Asia by its countries with no foreign interference.

Pointing to India’s rotating presidency of BRICS, he called on the group to play an “independent” role in stopping the US-Israel aggression against Iran and safeguarding regional and international peace and security.

Modi, for his part, expressed India’s deep concern over heightened tensions in West Asia and censured any attack on energy infrastructure in the region, warning of their serious implications for global food and energy security, as well as export of agricultural products across the world.

The Indian prime minister also stressed the importance of ensuring the security of the Strait of Hormuz and maintaining freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf.

He said war is not in the interest of any country and urged all the parties involved to choose the path of peace as soon as possible.

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