Iran to Continue Dialogue with US Despite Israel-Hezbollah Clashes

TEHRAN, June 14. /TASS/. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has decided to continue dialogue with the United States on settling their conflict amid Israel’s renewed strikes on Lebanon, Iranian President Masoud Pezehskian said.

"The Supreme National Security Council has come to the conclusion that the course toward talks should be continued," his press service quoted him as saying.

He noted that although many media outlets are citing former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as saying that talks with the United States are inadmissible, Khamenei instructed him in a personal conversation once "to continue talks on decent conditions."

According to Pezeshkian, Tehran has managed to restore good relations with its neighbors, despite the recent developments. "Luckily, most of the country’s diplomatic efforts in recent weeks have yielded positive results and many issues and misunderstandings with the Gulf countries are on a path to being settled," he said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier that it had delivered a strikes on a Hezbollah office in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood in response to a shelling attack on the Israeli territory. According to the Al Hadath television channel, a Hezbollah commander was killed in this air raid.

Following the attack, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Israel’s renewed air attacks against Lebanon may derail the negotiating process between Iran and the United States.