Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says Tehran will not start a war but will give a decisive and strong response to any adventurism seeking to bully the Islamic Republic.
“We have said many times that we will not be the initiator of any war, but if a country or a cruel force wants to bully the Islamic Republic of Iran, it will respond firmly,” Raeisi said in an address to a large crowd of people in the city of Minab in the southern province of Hormozgan on Friday.
He said Iran’s military power does not pose any threat to the countries in West Asia but it is a source of security that the regional states can rely on.
Raeisi said the enemies used to resort to the language of threat against Iran and even said a military option was on the table, but now they announce that they do not seek any confrontation with the Islamic Republic.
Raeisi reiterated the deterrent nature of Iran’s military might.
The president further pointed to his tour of an exhibition of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy earlier in the day and said the enemies cannot tolerate such innovations by Iranian experts and specialists.
US officials have in recent days spoken of plans to launch a series of strikes against Iranian targets inside Iraq and Syria in response to an attack that killed three American soldiers in Jordan at the weekend. US President Joe Biden blamed what he called “Iranian-backed groups” mainly based in Iraq for the attack, which also wounded at least 34.
Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks on US forces in the region, saying regional resistance groups do not take orders from Tehran, nor does the Islamic Republic have a role in their decisions to carry out retaliatory operations in defense of the Palestinian people.
