Iran Foreign Affairs Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi criticized Washington. He accused the U.S. of engaging in a “war of choice” for Israel after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended military action against Iran.
Iran Rejects ‘So-Called Threat’
In a post on X, Araghchi said, “Rubio admitted what we all knew: the U.S. has entered a war of choice for Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian ‘threat.’” He further claimed that the “shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters,” adding that “the American people deserve better and should take back their country.”
Araghchi’s comments followed Rubio’s outline of Washington’s reasons for the military operation. Rubio said that the U.S. decided to attack Iran because it had prior knowledge of Israel preparing its own strike. He argued that the US acted to prevent higher casualties among American forces.
Araghchi’s Statement on X
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would trigger an attack against American forces, and if we didn’t go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, Rubio said the main goal was to neutralize Iran missile manufacturing capacity and its ability to launch such weapons.
“Our mission and our focus is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and their ability to manufacture them, as well as the threat posed by their Navy to global shipping,” Rubio said. He added that the U.S. aimed to prevent risks to its forces and regional allies.
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