Iranupdated 58m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 23 September 2021Iran UN Envoy Gholamhossein Darzi Shows Martyrs Photos After Mike Waltz Claims
“We didn’t start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us,”
“Iran is the victim of this war, not the aggressor.”
Photo: U.S. Department of State from United States / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Iran's UN envoy Darzi showed martyrs' photos in response to Waltz's claims. Darzi urged the US to speak based on facts, not accusations.
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UN envoy and US claims
Iran’s UN envoy Gholamhossein Darzi responded to claims by US Ambassador Mike Waltz at the end of a UN Security Council meeting on Iran on Tuesday by showing photos of martyrs from the recent war and saying, "Speak based on facts, not accusations." Darzi said Waltz could not provide any valid argument or justification for the US representative’s "blatant aggression against Iran" and said the US instead resorted to repeating lies and baseless accusations about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. Darzi told the Security Council, "Let us speak based on facts, not fabricated accusations," and said, "The facts are clear: the United States and the Zionist regime have committed acts of aggression, including repeated military attacks on Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities that are under IAEA safeguards."
Darzi said Iran is the victim of this war, not the aggressor, and he said the aggressors are the United States and the Israeli regime, which have committed war crimes against the Iranian people. Darzi said residential areas, schools, hospitals, bridges, airports, energy facilities, sports complexes, cultural heritage sites, the railway network and other critical infrastructure were deliberately targeted and attacked.
Hormuz dispute and denial
CENTCOM rejected Iranian claims that American forces had withdrawn from the Strait of Hormuz and moved hundreds of kilometers away from the strategic waterway.
CENTCOM said, "This is FALSE," in a post on X, and it asserted that US forces deployed to the Middle East remained "present and vigilant" in the strait and surrounding waters.
The CENTCOM denial came after the army rejected "Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps" commander’s claim that U.S. forces have abandoned the Strait of Hormuz by moving hundreds of 'kilometers' away.
Middle East Eye said US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran was responsible for starting the conflict and called a ceasefire between the two a "waste of time."
Trump said during a rally in Corinth, Mississippi, "We didn’t start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us," and he added, "We wanna be nice, but it was just a waste of time as far as I’m concerned."
Talks, sanctions, and negotiations
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the American side is "not serious about negotiations" during his weekly news conference, as cited by the state-run IRNA news agency.
Baqaei accused Washington of repeatedly making false claims and said Tehran had not received any new European proposal for negotiations beyond a political statement.
Baqaei reiterated that Iran had never possessed nuclear weapons or sought to acquire them, and he said Iran had negotiated in good faith and signed the 2015 nuclear agreement, but the US withdrew from it three years later.
Baqaei said President Masoud Pezeshkian would travel to Russia on Monday night to attend a summit of gas-exporting countries, and he said the visit would provide opportunities to strengthen energy cooperation with Moscow.
Baqaei said tensions between Washington and Tehran have persisted since the US and Israel launched military attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, triggering a regional conflict and disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.