Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei insisted on the ban on nuclear weapons until the last moment of his life, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has said.
“He declared from the very beginning his religious ruling that the development of nuclear weapons is forbidden, and he remained firmly committed to that position until the very end,” Baqaei said during his weekly press briefing in Tehran on Tuesday.
The briefing was held as the United States and Israel continue their war of aggression against the country, which began on Saturday when Ayatollah Khamenei was martyred in a strike on his office in Tehran.
Leader sacrificed himself for Islamic Republic
The martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei was a lesson, as leaders are usually the last to surrender, be captured, or killed, but he was the first to sacrifice his life, Baqaei said.
“It was a conscious choice, he stayed at his workplace, in the heart of Tehran, at a time when everyone was warning of an attack…he sacrificed himself for Iran. His martyrdom was the greatest call for unity and the preservation of the nation,” the spokesperson noted.
War imposed on Iranian nation
Further in his presser, the Iranian diplomat said that the ongoing war not Iran’s choice, but it was imposed on the country by a regime whose cruelty has already been proven to the world.
He said that Iran has never initiated a war and was engaged in negotiations over its nuclear program to give diplomacy a chance despite the fact that Israel and the US launched a war of aggression in June last year.
He also dismissed claims by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff that the latest round of negotiations included US demands for an end to Iran’s ballistic and nuclear programs, and its support for regional allies. None of these issues were discussed, he stressed.
Baqaei addressed what he described as contradictory stances by US officials, noting that President Donald Trump spoke of Iran’s imminent threats to the United States, while assessments from the Pentagon did not support such a direct threat.
Genocide taking place in Iran
Referring to Israeli-US attacks on schools, Baqaei said that what is happening in Iran is a genocide, emphasizing that the country will continue to resist.
“What is happening in Iran is a genocide—a deliberate attempt to erase an ethnic lineage: targeting Iranian girls, the country's elites, and everything that forms the foundation of a nation. It is nothing less than an effort to reshape the dreams of an entire people. But this dream will not be changed. They have left us with no choice but to resist.”
Regional escalation result of international inaction
Baqaei said that the ongoing war in Iran and the escalation in the wider region are the result of inaction by the international community regarding crimes committed over the past two years, amid the genocidal conflict in Gaza.
“The world witnessed genocide but took no action. It witnessed aggression and crimes against neighboring countries and still took no action,” he said, adding that Iran repeatedly warned that all countries would be affected if such lawless behavior was not stopped.
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