The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, has reiterated that Tehran is acting in "legitimate self-defense," stressing that the United States can use the bases of its partners in the Middle East to "violate" the ceasefire agreed upon in early April. At the same time, he warned that Iran's response would be "immediate and forceful" to any aggression.
"Our Armed Forces are carrying out attacks in legitimate self-defense against facilities that the United States has permission to use in order to attack civilian vessels and violate the ceasefire," he stated on his social media.
In that same message, the head of Iranian diplomacy warned that "any hostile act will receive an immediate and forceful response" from Tehran and stressed that "what sanctions and war have not achieved, will not be achieved with more war."
Araqchi spoke after the intervention of his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, before a US Senate committee, where the latter highlighted that Washington's allies in the Middle East "have been very cooperative," specifically mentioning the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, of which he stated that "it has been fantastic."
The Iranian Executive accused the United States this Wednesday of again breaking the ceasefire with its recent attacks against a vessel and Qeshm island, insisting that these operations were carried out "from two countries in the region." In this context, it framed its bombings on Kuwait —which have left one deceased— and Bahrain as "the inherent right to defense."
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for launching "missile and drone" attacks against the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as against other air bases in the Middle East and a US-flagged vessel, as a "response" to a previous offensive by Washington against one of its ships near the Strait of Hormuz and against a communications tower on Qeshm island, actions that have been confirmed by US authorities.
This new exchange of attacks occurs in a scenario of mutual accusations for the violation of the April ceasefire and amid a blockade of the conversations initiated to try to close a peace agreement that puts an end to the conflict in the Middle East, unleashed on February 28 after a surprise offensive launched by Israel and the United States against Iran.