Latest news with #MasoudPezeshkian
CNN
20 minutes ago
- Politics
- CNN
Negotiations are ‘meaningless' unless Israel stops attacks, Iran government spokesperson tells CNN
The prospect of negotiations on Iran's nuclear program is 'meaningless' unless Israel stops striking her country, Iran's government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told CNN Saturday at her office in northern Tehran. The streets were fairly quiet in the Iranian capital, usually a bustling metropolis of over 9 million people. Over the past few days, traffic has increased as more Iranians return to the city after fleeing Israel's bombing during earlier days of the conflict. Despite being the voice of a government exchanging blows with a nuclear power (and waiting on whether to expect fire from the United States), Mohajerani was relaxed. The first woman to serve as Iranian government spokesperson, she came into her role less than a year ago, appointed by President Masoud Pezeshkian last August. She noted that Iran has endured numerous cycles of negotiations about its nuclear activities, yet none have resulted in a sustained long-term deal. 'These past years we've been through a painful experience twice,' Mohajerani said, pointing to US President Donald Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA agreement in 2018. No matter how eager Trump might be to bring Iran to the negotiating table, Mohajerani said Iran does not want to be left empty-handed again. And before talks begin, Israel's bombing must stop, she said, emphasizing a point made by multiple Iranian officials in recent days. 'This time we were in the middle of negotiations again when this attack took place,' Mohajerani said. 'Therefore, as our officials have already stated, as long as there are attacks, negotiations will be meaningless. When the attacks stop, we will think about it.' Israel's initial, wide-ranging operation on June 13 killed some of the most powerful commanders in the Iranian military and damaged Iranian uranium enrichment sites. Since then, daily strikes have damaged its nuclear power plants, set its largest natural gas field aflame and obliterated the newsroom of one of the country's state-run media channels. Still, Mohajerani insists that Iran is ready for whatever the Israelis throw at them next. 'Both the government and the nation of Iran are totally robust in defense,' she said. 'Our military force is completely ready to prevent such attacks from happening again, and in case the need arises to practice legitimate defense.' So far, at least 430 civilians in Iran have been killed in the strikes, and thousands of others wounded, according to the Iranian government. At a hospital in Tehran, one woman named Nisrine told CNN that she 'barely made it to the door' after being injured in an Israeli strike. One of her neighbors called emergency services, who brought her to a hospital. 'I've had five operations,' she said from her hospital bed. 'In my abdomen area, my kidney, my liver.' Iran's missile-and-UAV-driven response, meanwhile, has killed 24 in Israel, wounding over 1,200 others, according to figures from the Israeli government. Iranian missiles have struck deep within Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, with one missile hitting a hospital. At the heart of the conflict is the future of Iran's nuclear program. Israel and the United States have long accused Iran of working towards a nuclear bomb. Speaking with CNN, Mohajerani repeated what Iranian officials have maintained for years: that Iran's nuclear enrichment program is not for weapons-making, but rather for energy production. 'Nuclear energy does not mean war to us,' Mohajerani said. 'It means life to us. Therefore, since the subject of enrichment and the subject of life are the same path to us, not leading to war, we believe enrichment is our right.' Nonetheless, Israeli officials have cast their bombing campaign in existential terms, going so far as to say that Iran's nuclear program poses a threat to the entire planet. 'We act to prevent a huge threat—primarily to the existence of Israel, but also to the entire region, Europe, and the world order,' declared Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Rishon Lezion. It remains unclear whether Washington will join the fray. Trump has said he will decide whether to intervene within the next two weeks, but has already joined Israeli officials in publicly pondering the benefits of assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on June 17. 'He is an easy target but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.' Mohajerani was blunt when asked about the possibility that Israel or the US might take direct aim at her country's head of state. 'This shows that Israel does not understand the unity of the Iranian people,' Mohajerani said. 'Israel better not do something for which it can't pay the damage. The Iranian people are backing their leader.' 'We should not forget that for all of us Iranians today, Iran is a united concept, which we will certainly defend.'
Qatar Tribune
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Macron sees path to end fighting after call with Iranian president
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday he intends to press ahead with attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the Iran-Israel conflict, following a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. 'I am convinced that a path exists to end war and avoid even greater dangers,' Macron wrote on X. 'To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran.' The French president said he expressed his 'deep concern' about Iran's nuclear programme during the call, which Pezeshkian had initiated. 'Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful,' he wrote. Iran initially made no comment on the conversation. (DPA)
RTHK
2 hours ago
- Politics
- RTHK
Iran warns of retaliation as Israeli attacks continue
Iran warns of retaliation as Israeli attacks continue Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would not halt its nuclear programme "under any circumstances". File photo: AFP Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned Saturday of a "more devastating" retaliation should Israel's nine-day bombing campaign continue, saying the Islamic republic would not halt its nuclear programme "under any circumstances". Israel said on Saturday it had killed three more Iranian commanders in its unprecedented offensive, and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed Tehran's alleged progress towards a nuclear weapon had been set back by two years. "We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat," Saar told the German newspaper Bild, adding that Israel would keep up its onslaught. Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. On Saturday, Israel said it had attacked Iran's Isfahan nuclear site for a second time, with the UN nuclear watchdog reporting that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop had been hit. Later Saturday Iran's Mehr news agency said Israel had launched strikes on the southern city of Shiraz, which hosts military bases. And early Sunday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced that a "vast" wave of "suicide drones" had been launched against "strategic targets" across Israel. Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb, and on Saturday Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme "cannot be taken away... by threats or war". (AFP)
The Journal
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Journal
President of Iran says country won't halt nuclear activity 'under any circumstances'
IRAN HAS COME under Israeli fire today, with five army personnel having been killed in an attack in the west, while bomb blasts have been heard near Tehran's centre. Today the President of the country, Masoud Pezeshkian said the country won't halt nuclear activity 'under any circumstances'. He told French President Emmanuel Macron that while Iran is ready to 'discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities', there will be no total cessation of those activities. Israel pressed forward with its bombing campaign today which has killed more than 400 people since it began last week, according to the health ministry in Iran. Israel's military has said it has killed Saeed Izadi, a top Revolutionary Guards official in charge of military coordination with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as well as two other commanders overnight. Iran's news agency said this evening that five officers were killed and nine were wounded in the western city of Sumar. Israeli rescue services said that a drone strike hit a two-storey residential building in northern Israel. Advertisement Iran's strikes since 13 June have killed at least 25 people in Israel. Israel also targeted two nuclear sites overnight in Iran. The UN's nuclear watchdog, the Atomic Energy Agency confirmed a centrifuge manufacturing worksop at the Isfahan nuclear facility was struck. US stealth bombers were flying Saturday across the Pacific Ocean, according to tracking data and media reports, fuelling speculation over their intended mission as President Donald Trump considers joining Israel's attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Multiple B-2 bomber aircraft left a base in the central United States overnight, The New York Times and specialist plane tracking sites reported. The B-2 is capable of carrying America's heaviest payloads, including the bunker-busting GBU-57 – the only weapon capable of destroying Iran's deeply buried nuclear facility in Fordo. Iran has threatened to strike shipments of military aid to Israel during the ongoing fighting. 'We warn that sending any military or radar equipment by boat or aircraft from any country to assist the Zionist regime will be considered participation in the aggression against Islamic Iran and will be a legitimate target for the armed forces,' a spokesman said in a video statement broadcast on state TV. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
LBCI
3 hours ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Iran tells France its nuclear rights 'cannot be taken away by threats or war'
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that his country's right to pursue a civilian nuclear program could not be taken away by war, as it traded fire with Israel for a ninth day. "Iran has always announced that it is ready to provide guarantees and build confidence in its peaceful nuclear activities within the framework of international law," Pezeshkian told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call, according to the official IRNA news agency. "The rights granted to countries and nations by international law cannot be taken away from them by threats or war." AFP
