The HILL – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday his country could feasibly defend itself in the event of a U.S. ground incursion.
“For the time being we are capable enough. We have very brave soldiers, who are waiting for any enemy who enters into our soil to fight with them, and to kill them and destroy them,” Araghchi told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
President Trump and other administration officials have not ruled out sending ground troops into Iran, as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with the Middle Eastern country enters its second week. So far, seven U.S. service members have died in the conflict.
“[It would] have to be [for] a very good reason. And I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, on sending ground forces.
The foreign minister pushed back on Trump calling for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” to end the war, saying Iran will “never” do so.
Araghchi also slammed the president for arguing he should be involved in selecting the country’s next leader.
“We allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs,” Araghchi said Sunday. “This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader. They have already elected the Assembly of Experts, and the Assembly of Experts will do the job. It’s only the business of the Iranian people, and nobody else’s business.”
The Iranian Fars News Agency reported later Sunday that the country’s Assembly of Experts selected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who was killed on the first day of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes — as the next supreme leader of Iran. Trump told Axios on Thursday that the younger Khamenei would be an “unacceptable” choice as the next leader.
As of Saturday, U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran have also killed 1,205 people, including at least 194 children, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The post Iran ‘capable enough’ to defend itself if US sends ground forces: Foreign minister appeared first on Human Right Activists In Iran.
