The top diplomat made the comments in an interview with CNN’s GPS program during his last week trip to the United States where he attended a UN General Assembly emergency meeting on the Gaza war.
Resistance groups in West Asia, including those in Iraq, have conducted a number of rocket attacks on US military bases in the region after the Israeli regime bombed Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on October 17 as part of its intense aerial campaign of the besieged territory. US President Joe Biden and other American officials have pointed the finger at Iran, arguing that it backs the groups involved in anti-American attacks.
Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian rejected their claims, saying, “It is totally wrong and unfounded that any attack, which is carried out in the region and when US interests are targeted by any group, is attributed to the Islamic Republic without any evidence.”
He also said that people in the region are sensitive towards developments in Palestine and some take measures in a spontaneous way.
“They don’t take orders from Iran. They act based on their interests, as the operation that Hamas carried out was a fully Palestinian decision. They shouldered responsibility, took a decision, and took action,” the Iranian diplomat said, in reference to the Operation Al Aqsa Storm that the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, launched against Israeli positions on October 7.
FM says Iran has no proxies in the region, unfounded to attribute anti-US attacks to Tehran
He also rejected claims that Iran has played a role or is involved in the Gaza war, saying that it is the US which is involved in the conflict.
“We are and live in our region and we are not indifferent towards the situation in our region. The US is thousands of kilometers away, but it seeks to interfere in all affairs of our region,” Amir-Abdollahian said, citing US military presence in Syria without the consent of the Damascus government as well as Washington’s support for the Tel Aviv regime in the ongoing war on Gaza.
“We are in our region. We are defending our national security,” he said, stressing that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has no proxies in the region. Iran has not had and does not have any proxy war. It is Israel, which is the proxy of the US in the region and has made our region insecure.”
Amir-Abdollahian also criticized the US for sending messages that expressed concern over the expansion of the Gaza war and called on Iran to exercise self-restraint. He said that the US sends such messages while it constantly provides Israel with weapons and supports the regime.
“We think that someone, who is part of this war, is not in a position to advise others to show restraint.”
The minister said that the solution to the Gaza war is an immediate ceasefire and that Hamas has announced its readiness to release civilian Israeli captives.
The top Iranian diplomat also defended Operation Al-Aqsa Storm as a response by Palestinians to more than seven decades of Israeli aggression. He said that Hamas is a resistance group, which based on international law, is confronting the occupation.
RHM/PR
