Describing his country as an “anchor of stability” in the Strait of Hormuz and a “responsible power”, visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh hit out Friday at US President Trump for seeking a leadership change in Tehran when “he can’t even appoint the Mayor of New York”.
Khatibzadeh, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, told the audience at the Raisina Dialogue, the three-day conference organised by think tank ORF and the Ministry of External Affairs, “President Trump is asking for a leadership change in Iran while he can’t even appoint the Mayor of New York. Can you imagine this colonial approach? While he would like to see democracy at home, he would like to topple the democratically-elected President of Iran.”
The presence of the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, who also serves as President of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) in Iran, was announced at the last minute when he joined the Raisina Dialogue on Friday.
Sources said Khatibzadeh was in Japan and came to Delhi to address the conference. His country has been under attack by Israeli and US aircraft since February 28 when Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike.
None of the participants from the Middle East countries could join the Raisina Dialogue this time because of the conflict.
Describing it as an “existential war”, Khatibzadeh accused the US and Israel of launching attacks based on “flat lies” and the “delusion of a Greater Israel”.
Maintaining that the attacks on Iran were “unprovoked”, Khatibzadeh said, “What is being done by Americans and Israelis today is against international law and norms. There was no provocation from Iran. My country is under attack, based on flat lies that Iran was imposing a threat.”
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“Why the Americans and Israelis started aggression against Iran is an important question. If you pose this question to the American administration, based on the different markets and audiences, you will get different answers. Why they started this is due to power politics and delusion of a Greater Israel,” he said.
“This is an existential war on Iran, and they would like to put an end to the existence of Iran. We are fighting a heroic, nationalistic war to push back those aggressors. We have no option but to hit wherever the Americans are originating their attack from,” he said.
“Should a Head of State be targeted when there are problems between countries? This is unprecedented. If this is the new norm, then it is very dangerous,” he said.
Stating that “cherry-picking” of international law cannot be acceptable, he said, “Unfortunately, principles of international law have been attacked, and we have to stand together against these atrocities. Americans have assassinated the head of another state. If it is the new norm, then nobody, no country on earth can actually have diplomatic normalisation with other countries.”
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“The ball is in the court of the one who started this aggression. If they stop aggression today, we are defending, not on offence. Diplomacy is the only option every country has. I really doubt if this administration understands the essence of diplomacy and dialogue,” he said.
Countering reports that Iran had closed the Strait of Hormuz – at least 20 per cent of the world’s energy supply passes through the waterway – Khatibzadeh said, “Iran is an anchor of stability in the Strait of Hormuz. We will announce if we close the Strait of Hormuz. We have not closed it. We are a responsible power.”
Later, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference, Khatibzadeh said the Iranian warship IRIS Dena – it was sunk by a US submarine on March 4 near Sri Lanka – was in a non-combat configuration, returning from the MILAN naval exercise and the US action against it was a serious violation of international law.
“This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was, by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” he said. “It is very unfortunate. Many of the young Iranian sailors who were attending these exercises lost their lives.”
