TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday blamed Israel for a strike on Damascus, saying it “reserves the right to respond” after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed four of its members had died.
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani decried “frequent violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and an escalation in aggressive and provocative attacks” by Tehran’s arch-foe Israel.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to respond... at the appropriate time and place” to the latest strike on the Syrian capital, Kanani said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 10 people were killed in the Israeli strike on the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus.
The Guards’ Sepah news agency said the “evil and criminal Zionist regime (Israel)” killed four of its military advisers, while Iran’s Mehr news agency reported one of them was the force’s spy chief for Syria.
In recent weeks, Israel has been accused of intensifying strikes on senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon — backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas — raising fears the Gaza conflict could expand further throughout the region.
Military actions across the region attributed to Israel “reflect the weakness and desperation” of its forces on the battlefield, Kanani charged.
He called the latest strike “a desperate attempt to spread instability and insecurity in the region.”
The raid on Mazzeh came four days after the Revolutionary Guard said it attacked “an Israeli intelligence headquarters” in Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern autonomous province of Kurdistan.
Iraqi authorities said the attack killed four civilians and wounded six others.
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Iran says ‘reserves right’ to avenge deadly Israeli strike on Damascus
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Iran says ‘reserves right’ to avenge deadly Israeli strike on Damascus
- Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani decried “frequent violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and an escalation in aggressive and provocative attacks”
- The Guards’ Sepah news agency said the “evil and criminal Zionist regime (Israel)” killed four of its military advisers
Turkiye’s foreign minister says the US and Iran showing flexibility on nuclear deal, FT reports
- Hakan Fidan: “It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries”
- Washington has until now demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent fissile purity
The United States and Iran are showing flexibility on a nuclear deal, with Washington appearing “willing” to tolerate some nuclear enrichment, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday.
“It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries,” Fidan, who has been involved in talks with both Washington and Tehran, told the FT.
“The Iranians now recognize that they need to reach a deal with the Americans, and the Americans understand that the Iranians have certain limits. It’s pointless to try to force them.”
Washington has until now demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent fissile purity, a small step away from the 90 percent that is considered weapons grade.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran would continue to demand the lifting of financial sanctions and insist on its nuclear rights including enrichment.
Fidan told the FT he believed Tehran “genuinely wants to reach a real agreement” and would accept restrictions on enrichment levels and a strict inspection regime, as it did in the 2015 agreement with the US and others. US and Iranian diplomats held talks through Omani mediators in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy, after President Donald Trump positioned a naval flotilla in the region, raising fears of new military action. Trump on Tuesday said he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, even as Washington and Tehran prepared to resume negotiations.
The Turkish foreign minister, however, cautioned that broadening the Iran-US talks to ballistic missiles would bring “nothing but another war.”
The US State Department and the White House did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
“It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries,” Fidan, who has been involved in talks with both Washington and Tehran, told the FT.
“The Iranians now recognize that they need to reach a deal with the Americans, and the Americans understand that the Iranians have certain limits. It’s pointless to try to force them.”
Washington has until now demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent fissile purity, a small step away from the 90 percent that is considered weapons grade.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran would continue to demand the lifting of financial sanctions and insist on its nuclear rights including enrichment.
Fidan told the FT he believed Tehran “genuinely wants to reach a real agreement” and would accept restrictions on enrichment levels and a strict inspection regime, as it did in the 2015 agreement with the US and others. US and Iranian diplomats held talks through Omani mediators in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy, after President Donald Trump positioned a naval flotilla in the region, raising fears of new military action. Trump on Tuesday said he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, even as Washington and Tehran prepared to resume negotiations.
The Turkish foreign minister, however, cautioned that broadening the Iran-US talks to ballistic missiles would bring “nothing but another war.”
The US State Department and the White House did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
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