Iran Apologizes to Neighbors, Halts Strikes Unless They Attack, President Pezeshkian Says

Iran’s newly sworn‑in president Masoud Pezeshkian publicly apologised on state television for recent Iranian strikes on neighbouring countries.

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He said an interim leadership council had approved a halt to cross-border missile and drone launches so long as attacks do not originate from those states.

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Multiple outlets report that Pezeshkian delivered the apology and framed the move as an official, conditional policy aimed at reassuring Gulf neighbours amid a wider regional war involving the United States and Israel.

The announcement was described as coming via state media and as signalling a formal, if limited, shift in Iran’s rules of engagement.

The pledge was explicitly conditional and ambiguous, and several outlets highlighted loopholes and immediate contradictions in practice.

The New York Times reported that Pezeshkian's apology and pledge were later walked back amid hard-liner criticism.

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A statement issued hours later denied attacks on "friendly and neighboring countries" and omitted the apology.

Analysts and other outlets warned that Pezeshkian's caveat about attacks originating from Gulf territories that host U.S. bases substantially undercuts the promise.

Observers noted that the council's statement leaves open whether strikes on U.S. or Israeli assets hosted in neighbouring countries would still be considered permissible, creating a potential gap between the public pledge and operational reality.

Pezeshkian’s remarks exposed sharp domestic tensions over the war.

“Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said neighbouring countries will no longer be targeted unless an attack originates from there, as the war launched by the United States and Israel, which triggered sustained retaliation from Tehran across the Gulf and beyond, enters its second week”

Al Jazeera

Iranian hard-liners, conservative media figures and some MPs criticised the apology and the halt as humiliating or a sign of weakness.

Calls circulated for rapid leadership change, and one report said the comments had prompted demands that the Assembly of Experts move to select a new leader.

Other officials and diplomats pushed back against external pressure and reiterated that strikes on U.S. and Israeli targets would continue to be treated as legitimate responses if Iran judged them necessary.

The policy announcement came amid intensive, multi‑front fighting that has struck civilian infrastructure, closed airspace and produced heavy casualties across the region.

Reporting documented widespread Iranian missile and drone strikes on Gulf states and on sites in Iraq, with air‑raid sirens and airport disruptions in Dubai, Bahrain and elsewhere, and outlets linked regional and Iranian casualties and damage to Pezeshkian’s statement.

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Media also reported evacuations of Iranian diplomatic staff from Lebanon and other steps by states and airlines to limit exposure as the conflict widened.

International reactions and rhetoric remained volatile: former U.S. president Donald Trump used social media to threaten severe action and press for unconditional surrender, while Iranian leaders rejected demands to capitulate and presented Pezeshkian’s conditional halt as a step toward de‑escalation and diplomacy.

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Trump’s statements were framed in some reports as escalatory rhetoric, while Iranian officials emphasised that the pause applied only if neighbouring states did not host or enable attacks on Iran.

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Several outlets noted the pledge was part of a broader, delicate diplomatic push by Gulf mediators and others to prevent the war from widening.