Ali Larijani, chief of Iran’s national security council, denied reports in US media about his country’s willingness to engage in negotiations to end the war. He posted a sharp response on X on Monday saying “we will not negotiate with the US.”
Larijani’s statement came after Wall Street Journal and other media outlets claimed Iran had approached the US seeking negotiations.
Responding to threats of destruction issued by US President Donald Trump on Sunday, Larijani also reiterated his country’s position that Trump has plunged the region into chaos with his “delusional fantasies” and by turning his “America First” slogan into “Israel First.”
He claimed Iran did not initiate the aggression and is merely defending itself and warned the aggressors of more “troop casualties” if they fail to stop their aggression.
Israel and the US launched joint aggressions in Iran on Saturday, amidst ongoing talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Trump later called the attacks a “major combat operation” effectively calling for “regime change” in the country.
Over 500 Iranians, including the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of its top officials have been killed in the joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
One Israeli-US strike on a girls school in Minab, Hormozgan province in Southern Iran, killed over 160 students on Saturday.
On Sunday, Israel and the US targeted various hospitals and offices of the Red Crescent Society in and around Tehran in an attempt to cripple the health services in the country, Iranian state media reported.
Israel and the US continued to bomb Tehran and several other parts of the country on Sunday despite fears of large-scale casualties due to ongoing demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people mourning the death of Khamenei.
US-Israeli assets in the region targeted
Iran has launched retaliatory attacks on a number of US military bases in the Gulf and the wider region, including US and UK bases in Cyprus since then, apart from targeting Israeli territories with missiles and drones.
Iranian media also claimed its forces launched missiles against the USS Abraham Lincoln, reportedly placed in the Arabian Sea and used to launch attacks on the country.
According to the CENTCOM communication on Sunday, at least three US soldiers were killed and dozens of others were injured in Iran’s retaliatory attacks so far.
Over two dozen Israelis were also killed and hundreds others were injured in Iranian retaliations since Saturday.
Iran has also announced the stoppage of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, effectively blocking the passage of oil and gas from the Gulf countries to the rest of the world. According to various estimates, around 20% of global energy trade is conducted through the strait.
Several Gulf countries and other countries in the region, such as Turkey, have condemned Iran’s attacks targeting their territories in the war.
Iran has tried to assure these countries claiming the strikes on the Gulf countries should not be seen as aggression against them as they are solely defensive strikes meant to target US and Israeli assets in the region.
“We are not seeking to attack you. But when the bases located in your country are used against us, and when the US carries out operations in the region relying on these forces, then we will target those bases” said Larijani in a post on Sunday.
Read more: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei confirmed dead
“These [American] bases are not part of the land of those countries; rather they are American soil,” he further clarified.
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