Iran Has No Plans to Negotiate and Will Respond to US Attack

JAKARTA - Iran will continue to respond to the United States' attacks firmly and does not plan to negotiate, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told Iranian media on Wednesday.

"Currently we have no plans to negotiate and remain focused on defending the country," Baghaei told reporters outside a memorial service for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's late son-in-law in Tehran, according to video from the Iranian Student News Network (SNN), CNN reported (16/7).

Baghaei further said Iran would not abide by any agreement if the US "violates its obligations."

"This is a principle, and we will continue to follow it," Baghaei said, adding that Iran believes the United States has ignored the ceasefire since the beginning.

On the sidelines of the memorial ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran would "respond firmly" to any act of aggression, as reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

"We will not allow any act of aggression or any action against the Iranian nation without a response," Gharibabadi said.

Soon after SNN reported the spokesperson's comments, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that the US attacked Iran's Hengam Island near the Strait of Hormuz.

As previously reported, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said attacks on Iran would continue and intensify in the coming days, warning the US would start targeting power plants and bridges of the Land of the Mullahs, unless Tehran returned to the negotiating table.

"We hit them very, very hard. We hit everything they had along the coast, along the seafront. They will continue to attack until I say it's enough," Trump said in an interview with Fox News, as reported by Anadolu (15/7).

When asked if he was considering attacking energy targets, he replied: "I will discuss energy targets at the end, but in the end we will attack energy targets."

"We're going to hit them very hard tonight. We're going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We're going to hit them very hard the night after that. And then next week, it's going to be very bad for them, because next week there's going to be a power plant. Next week there's going to be a bridge. We're going to destroy all their power plants. We're going to destroy all their bridges unless they want to sit at the negotiating table and negotiate," he added.

President Trump said he believed Iran "has no choice" but to make a deal, adding US representatives had contacted Iranian officials recently about an hour before the interview.

"They want to make a deal. You better make a deal. You won't have anyone left," he said.