Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref warned on Monday that Israel could resume its war on Iran at any time and that Tehran must be prepared for the possibility.
“We must be prepared at every moment for confrontation; right now, we are not even in a ceasefire (agreement); we are in a cessation of hostilities,” Eref said.
The Iranian official said that Tehran prefers diplomacy but is unsure what the other side will do and that if the war does restart, Iran will be prepared to end it.
“Of course, our strategy is to resolve issues through negotiations, but we are concerned whether the other side believes in negotiations or not,” he said, according to Iran’s MEHR news agency. “We do not seek war, but our strategy is that if they start a war, its end will be ours.”
Aref’s comments come as Israeli officials have made clear that they do seek another war with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video last week where he spoke in English and urged the “Iranian people” to rise up against the government, and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has repeatedly threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since the end of the 12-day US-Israeli war on Iran, there have been no negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Iran has been seeking assurances that it won’t be attacked again during the next round of talks, and it also maintains that the US must not demand zero uranium enrichment. For his part, President Trump has threatened to bomb Iran again if it restarts uranium enrichment.
