Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Tuesday, September 1, denounced the United States’ “ill intentions” against Iran, adding that Iran was justified in its retaliatory strikes on Sunday, August 30.
“The United States in their war, their assault, and their aggression against Iran is targeting all our interests,” he told reporters during a press conference.
He said that the Sunday night strikes on Larak Island prove that the US “keeps committing violations” and that Iran “was justified in its response.”
Baghaei said that the economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have drastically affected lives in Iran, adding that the US made a “massive error”.
“It has become clear they are now stuck in the massive error they’ve made, and it’s their usual habit to raise excessive demands. On each occasion, they fall into a state of miscalculation. We cannot accept any orders being dictated to us. If they continue with this philosophy, they will not get any different result.”
Iran is willing to go back to ceasefire agreement if US does
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that “if the US returns to its commitments in the memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will immediately reciprocate,” Iranian state media reported.
The June memorandum of understanding called for an immediate ceasefire and started a 60-day period for negotiations aimed at reaching a wider peace deal. Iran agreed to clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines and allow ships to pass during the period, and the US agreed to end its naval blockade, lift sanctions, issue waivers for Iranian oil exports, and begin work on a reconstruction package for Iran, among other things.
The agreement broke down quickly, and while there has been a lull in fighting, the two sides exchanged fire on the weekend.
While Pezeshkian has long favored a negotiated end to the war, Iran’s most powerful force remains the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is pressing for greater concessions from the US, including Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz and financial compensation for the war. Those conditions would likely be unacceptable to Washington.
Iraq completes investigation into suspected Islamic State group members
Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said on Tuesday it had completed investigations into some 5,704 suspected Islamic State group members who were transferred to Iraq from Syria early this year. Hundreds would be released, and the others sent to trial, the council said.
The detainees were transferred from detention centers previously run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces amid fears that fighting that broke out between the SDF and government forces and an ensuing power vacuum in some areas would allow militants to flee.
The detainees include people from 67 nationalities, including 3,497 Syrians and 474 Iraqis. Some were European nationals.
The council said investigations failed to establish sufficient evidence in some cases, leading to the release and handover of a Finnish, an American and seven Iraqi detainees to their home countries.
It said Iraqi authorities were also completing procedures to release 457 Syrian detainees due to insufficient evidence to justify continued judicial proceedings.
(With inputs from AP)
