According to an interim assessment presented by Iran, the roughly 40 day-long US-Israeli war on the country caused USD 270 billion worth in damages, which is more than half of Iran’s total GDP of over USD 475 billion.

The figure was quoted by one of the official spokespersons of Iran, Fatemeh Mohajerani, in an interview with Russian Ria Novosti on Tuesday, April 14.

Mohajerani also insisted that Iran has firmly raised the issue of war reparations during the Islamabad talks with the US and will continue to press for it as part of a peace deal.

According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), the US and Israel bombed more than 125,000 civilian structures during the war that began on February 28, damaging hundreds of schools, hospitals, universities, medical research centers, residential homes, historical monuments, and other public infrastructure, such as railways and bridges, Press TV reported.

The IRCS claimed it had to carry out over 6,000 rescue operations and dig out over 7,000 citizens from rubble created due to US-Israeli bombings.

According to Iran’s Ministry of Health, more than 3,750 Iranians, including women and children, were killed in the indiscriminate bombings carried out by the US and Israel during the war and thousands of others were injured.

Meanwhile, Iranian ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani condemned the US statement that Iran hides its military hardware in civilian sites, calling it a cynical attempt to justify its war crimes of targeting civilian infrastructure during its aggression.

US blockade of Iran is illegal

In a separate instance, Iravani also called the US naval blockade of Iran a gross violation of his country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and demanded immediate condemnations from the UN and efforts to prevent the US from making any more provocative steps.

The US imposed the blockade on Iran on Monday after peace talks in Islamabad failed. Iranians have claimed that the talks failed due to Washington’s insistence on Iran completely giving up its civil nuclear program, among other maximalist demands.

Iravani wrote a letter in protest to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the president of the Security Council, claiming that the blockade violates article 2, paragraph 4 of the UN charter, which prohibits threats or the use of force against a member country.

Iran also claimed that in the absence of any international action against US provocations and violations it reserves the right to “take all necessary and proportionate measures to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests.”

Further round of talks possible

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed on Tuesday that Iran is in constant talks with Pakistan even after the failure of the first round of talks with the US in Islamabad on Sunday.

“Future rounds of talks could occur anywhere and at any time,” the IRNA quoted unknown official sources saying on Tuesday.

Later Esmail Baghaei, official spokesperson of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed the news, hinting there could be another round of talks between the US and Iran in the coming days.

The speculations about the second round of talks intensified after US President Donald Trump claimed that the war with Iran is “very close to over”.

In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Trump said that the end of the war is “very possible” after claiming Iranians want to make a deal “very badly”.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump had claimed that the next round of talks with Iran would be taking place within two days in Pakistan.

The first round of talks between the US and Iran were held last weekend in Islamabad, days after both the countries agreed to a two-week long temporary ceasefire on April 7. The talks, which lasted over 21 hours, however, ended abruptly.

Iran claimed that the talks ended abruptly, despite a deal being “inches away”, accusing the US of suddenly shifting its demands and taking a maximalist approach.

The post Over 3,700 killed in US and Israeli attacks on Iran appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.