Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Israel is setting “traps” to drag Iran into war, comments that came amid a dramatic escalation of Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Pezeshkian, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, told reporters that Iran wants peace in the region while Israel wants war.
“We don’t want to fight,” he said. “It’s Israel that wants to drag everyone into war and destabilize the region. … They are dragging us to a point where we do not wish to go.”
Pezeshkian also discussed the July 31 Israeli assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, warning it will not go “unanswered” but also adding that Iran does not wish to be “the causes of instability in the region.”
The Iranian leader said that Iran waited to respond due to US warnings that it could disrupt ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. “They told us earlier to prevent a larger war to wait another week or so for peace to be obtained,” Pezeshkian said. “Clearly the politicians that lie to us these days … lie to you as well.”
Back in April, the US directly intervened to defend Israel and intercepted Iranian missiles and drones that were fired in response to the Israeli bombing of Iran’s consulate in Damascus, which killed several Iranians, including a senior Quds Force commander.
The US is vowing to defend Israel from any future attacks, whether launched by Iran or if Israel requests help with Hezbollah attacks. “We’re obviously supporting the defense of Israel, should they be threatened or attacked and call upon us for support, which could include the kinds of scenarios you saw on April 14, when Iran conducted its drone and missile attack,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Monday.
