Iran would prefer to sort things out diplomatically, but if push comes to shove, itis more than ready to continue the war, said Iranian envoy Kazem Jalali, arguing that the Islamic Republic has never been one to abandon diplomacy despite multiple betrayals.
“The general policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is that if the other side is willing to negotiate, we will negotiate. If they want war, we will fight,” Jalali told RT late Thursday.
The Iranian ambassador to Moscow further claimed that Tehran has never “betrayed” or left the negotiating table, accusing Washington of doing exactly that in February 28, and earlier under US President Donald Trump.
“In the record of the US President, there was the tearing up of the JCPOA, and there have been two attacks against us while talks were ongoing,” he said.
“If they want to continue this trend, it is natural that the Islamic Republic of Iran will fight. But if they intend to negotiate, we are ready for systematic negotiations with strong guarantees to establish lasting peace and to preserve and protect Iran’s rights and compensate for our losses,” he added.
Trump earlier extended the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, stating that he’ll wait for a “unified response” from Tehran on all core issues, alleging that the country was fractured, divided, leaderless, as its command structure was heavily compromised, with no central leadership.
Pushing back against Trump’s claims of disunity, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that when it came to national interest, there were no separate camps of “hardliners” and “moderates”, rather only “Iranians and revolutionaries.” They vowed that the country’s “ironclad unity” would make the aggressor regret its actions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed the same statement, saying that its state institutions continue to act with “unity, purpose, and discipline,” and that “the battlefield and diplomacy are fully coordinated fronts in the same war.”
