LISBON: Tehran reserves the right to react to Israeli airstrikes last month on Iran but also bears in mind other developments in the region, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday.
Araghchi told reporters during a trip to Lisbon that Iran welcomed Tuesday’s ceasefire agreement in Lebanon and hoped it could lead to a permanent ceasefire. The ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday under an agreement brokered by the United States and France.
Asked whether the ceasefire could lead to an easing of tensions between Israel and Iran, he said: “It depends on the behavior of Israel.”
“Of course, we reserve the right to react to the recent Israeli aggression, but we do consider all developments in the region,” he said.
Israel struck targets in Iran on Oct. 26 in retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage against Israel on Oct. 1.
Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said in an interview published by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Sunday that his country was preparing to “respond” to Israel.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday Hezbollah had been “set back decades,” Araghchi said the armed group had not been weakened by Israel’s killing of many of its leaders since January and by its ground offensive against the group since early October.
Hezbollah has been able to reorganize itself and fight back effectively, Araghchi said.
“This is the main reason why Israel accepted the ceasefire...every time they (Hezbollah) lose their leaders or their commanders, they become bigger in both numbers and their strength,” he said.
His remarks echoed comments by a senior Hezbollah official, Hassan Fadlallah, who said the group would emerge from the war stronger and more numerous.
Iran reserves right to react to Israeli airstrikes, welcomes Lebanon ceasefire
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Iran reserves right to react to Israeli airstrikes, welcomes Lebanon ceasefire
- Asked whether the ceasefire could lead to an easing of tensions between Israel and Iran, Araghchi said: “It depends on the behavior of Israel“
- “Of course, we reserve the right to react to the recent Israeli aggression, but we do consider all developments in the region“
Internet blackout leaves anxious Iranians in the dark
PARIS: Iran’s internet is still “around 1 percent of ordinary levels,” monitor Netblocks said on Thursday, leaving most Iranians struggling to access independent news or communicate with the outside world.
Iranian authorities shut off internet access on Saturday after Israel and the US began air strikes, plunging the country into an information blackout.
“Iran’s internet blackout has now exceeded 120 hours with connectivity still flatlining around 1 percent of ordinary levels,” internet monitor Netblocks said in a message posted on social media platform X on Thursday.
Some Iranians are finding brief moments of the day when they are able to connect and send messages, while others have resorted to using illegal Starlink subscriptions. Calls to Iran from overseas to mobile phones or landlines are near-impossible.
“The internet speed is very slow,” a Tehran resident said by message, asking to remain anonymous for security reasons. “You can’t call and voice messages don’t get delivered. We can just text.”
Netblocks said that Iranian telecoms companies were now sending messages to “threaten users who try to connect to the global internet with legal action.”
“The internet situation here is abysmal,” a resident in Bukan in western Iran, said in a message. “It connects and disconnects. The connection is slow, so the VPNs don’t work.”
In normal circumstances, Iranians use VPNs to connect to Western internet services such as Instagram that are banned in Iran.
Others with working internet connections are helping out others.
Shima, a 33-year-old in Tehran, said that she was helping friends by sending news of life in the capital, which has been hit by waves of missile and bombing strikes since Saturday.
“I need to call a lot of people, even strangers, on behalf of their families,” she said.
