In an interview with NBC News, Hossein Amirabdollahian refused to acknowledge that Israel was behind the recent attack on his country.
Iran’s foreign minister on Friday refused to acknowledge that Israel was behind the recent attack on his country and described the weapons that were used as more like children’s toys.
“What happened last night was not a strike,” the foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said in an interview with NBC News’ Tom Llamas. “They were more like toys that our children play with – not drones.”
Amirabdollahian, who spoke to NBC News in New York where he was attending a U.N. Security Council session, said Iran was not planning to respond unless Israel launches a significant attack.
“As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions,” he said.
I was listening to someone give a potted history of Iran since the 1950s and it’s a cascade of western foreign policy mistakes. Starting with the backing of the 1953 coup, installing Saddam Hussain in Iraq, backing Iran against Hussain when he was a problem, removing a power structure in Iraq through war allowing Iranian powers to get footholds there. Same thing in Syria and the Assad regime. (I may have some bits wrong / out of order - go read up for yourself).
The end result is this sleeping tiger of a nation that has influence in several countries around it, yet we expect it not to escalate the situation when Israel is kicking off.