In an exclusive interview with the US' National Public Radio (NPR) on Thursday, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi said, “'We are not interested in the escalation of tensions in our region because if something goes wrong, everybody will lose - including Iran, the US, and all the countries in the region.”
Stressing that Tehran is “not planning for war and war is not an option for Iran,” the diplomat noted, “But, at the same time, we have to be prepared for any action against our forces, against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iran.”
“Therefore, we are vigilant. We are doing everything possible to lower the tension in the region.”
The official expressed regret that “unfortunately, there are certain people, both in Washington as well as in our region, who are interested to escalate the tension, who are interested to agitate the situation in the region, to provoke. And I believe that it is in everybody's interest to prevent such an eventuality.”
Takht-Ravanchi referred to the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei's recent remarks that Iran is not interested in war and noted that this is the view of most high-ranking officials in the Iranian Islamic establishment.
“We are not going to prepare anything for a conflict; we are not interested to provoke, but we are preparing ourselves for defensive measures; it is our right to be prepared to defend ourselves.”
Takht-Ravanchi stressed that “We are not going to do anything which can be interpreted as an offensive act by Iran.”
The official, further in his remarks, strongly dismissed the New York Times' alleged report on armed Iranian speed boats in the Persian Gulf and noted that these are part of fake propaganda against Iran to increase the possibility of something like a conflict or war.
Commenting on Iran's recent move to reduce some commitments to the nuclear deal, Takht-Ravanchi said that the Iran move is not against the nuclear deal and in fact what Iran did is a measure to preserve the deal.
“It is - what we have said is exactly in accordance with paragraph 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal,” he said, adding that “it is based on our rights to lower our commitments, to somehow try not to do certain things that we were doing in the past. Therefore, it is our right to act in accordance with the nuclear deal.”
MNA/4618649