President Pezeshkian Says Israel Will Bomb Iran If Its Country Does Not Have Missiles

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gave his first press statement in Tehran. (Source: IRNA)

JAKARTA - President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday Tehran would never stop its missile program because Iran needed such a deterrence for its security in an area where arch-enemy Israel could "fall missiles into Gaza every day".

"If we don't have missiles, they will bomb us whenever they want, like in Gaza," President Pezeshkian said, referring to the conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant group led by Hamas.

He reiterated Tehran's official stance, calling on the international community "to first strip Israel of weapons before filing the same charges against Iran".

During his inaugural official press conference, President Pezeshkian also said Iran could hold direct talks with the United States if Washington showed "in practice" that they were not hostile to Tehran.

Former President Donald Trump brought the US out of the 2015 Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) in 2018, arguing the deal was too profitable for Tehran, and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually violate restrictions on the deal.

"We are not hostile to the US, they must end their hostility towards us by showing their good intentions in practice," said President Pezeshkian, quoted by Arab News.

It is known, after taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden tried to negotiate a recovery of the nuclear pact in which Iran has restricted its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US, European Union and UN sanctions.

However, Tehran refused to negotiate directly with Washington, opting for contact with European or Arabic intermediaries.

Iran is known to have opposed Western calls for years, in connection with its missile program restrictions.

The United States and its allies recently accused Iran of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, and imposed new sanctions on Moscow and Tehran. Both Russia and Iran denied allegations of the missile.

President Pezeshkian himself confirmed that Iran had not transferred any weapons to Russia since he took office in August, after Western powers accused Tehran of sending ballistic missiles to Moscow in September.

"It's possible that the shipment happened in the past, but I can assure you, since I took office, there has been no such shipment to Russia." he explained.

Earlier, Iran in February reportedly provided a number of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles to Russia, deepening military cooperation between the two countries affected by Washington sanctions.