Masoud Pezeshkian Warns US and Israel’s Illegitimate Attacks Target Iran and Persian Gulf Bases

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Pope Leo XIV in a message that Tehran remains committed to diplomacy and peaceful solutions, while saying the “destructive policy” of the United States and Israel and their “illegitimate attacks” are not directed solely against Iran.

Pezeshkian warned that the use of US military bases in Persian Gulf countries for recent aggression forced Iran’s Armed Forces, in self-defense, to target aggressor interests and assets in those countries.

Al Jazeera

He also quoted “dangerous” and “shameless” remarks by US President Donald Trump about intending to “destroy Iran’s historical civilization and send it back to the Stone Age,” and said the remarks “Stem from the illusion of absolute power” and “are rooted in arrogance, bullying, greed, and an attempt to resolve conflicts through unbridled violence.”

The message said a ceasefire took effect in early April through Pakistani mediation, but negotiations in Islamabad failed to produce an accord due to “excessive demands and shifting goalposts by the US delegation,” and Washington later unilaterally extended the truce without a set deadline.

In a letter described by Roya News as a sweeping appeal to international leaders, Pezeshkian argued that resisting Washington’s policies is a “collective defense of international law and universal human values,” and said the US–'Israeli' military campaign launched on February resulted in the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Roya News said Pezeshkian confirmed that “3,468 Iranian citizens have been killed,” citing destruction to hospitals, schools, universities, and critical infrastructure as evidence of “war crimes.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC)

Press TV reported Pezeshkian expressed gratitude for Pope Leo’s “moral stance” against the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, while urging the international community to adopt a realistic and fair approach to counter the “illegal demands and adventurous, dangerous policies” of the United States.

The same message, as carried by Press TV, said the criminal US-Israeli aggression began on February 28 with airstrikes that assassinated senior Iranian officials and commanders, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Iran, despite attacks by the United States and Israel across the country, “has not requested a ceasefire,” and told Enbasi News that Iran was “waiting for them” because it was confident it could confront a possible US ground invasion.

In the same interview, Araghchi said, “No, we are waiting for them because we are confident that we can confront them, and this would be a major disaster for them,” and he contrasted that with the “12-day war in June” when “it was Israel that requested a ceasefire.”

Araghchi argued that the “reality is that we have no positive experience negotiating with the United States,” adding that Iran negotiated “twice last year and again this year” and that “in the middle of the negotiations they attacked us.”

He said, “In this war there are no winners,” and framed Iran’s “victory” as the ability to “resist against illegal aims,” while also stating that Iran “have not attacked our neighbors or Muslim countries” and that it “have attacked American targets and bases” on the soil of neighbors.