Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran: Neighboring countries cannot play the role of victims

(CNN) - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said that neighboring countries “cannot play the role of victims,” as he put it, pointing out that they must accept “not to bloc against Iran and Iraq.”

This came in statements made by Khatibzadeh to Al-Mayadeen Channel and reported by the official Iranian News Agency, where he highlighted that “the war demonstrated the use of the lands of Kuwait and Bahrain to launch attacks on Iran.”

The Iranian official pointed out that “all the American bases in the region were destroyed and their purpose to protect Israel was exposed,” describing the American war on his country as “illegal and in violation of international law,” and that Washington “aimed to change the regime and eliminate territorial integrity and deterrent capabilities, but it was defeated,” according to what he said.

He added, "For Iran, the war was an existential war, and it resisted based on this logic and did not allow the United States to win," stressing that "there is no alternative to the diplomatic solution, and Iran's readiness to resolve its concerns about atomic energy and fulfill its right to use peaceful nuclear energy, with which the agency's reports have proven full compliance."

Regarding the situation in Yemen, Khatibzadeh called for "an immediate end to the Saudi blockade and an immediate ceasefire to end the severe suffering in medicine and food and to enable the Yemenis to return to their normal lives."

Regarding the Lebanese Hezbollah, Khatibzadeh said: “Hezbollah is a Lebanese party and was established as a result of Israel’s direct attacks on Lebanon and the occupation of its lands,” where zealous young people gathered regardless of their sectarian and religious backgrounds to end the occupation, and that the relationship with friends is based on principles, beliefs and values, and that the Islamic Republic stands loyally by its friends.