‘This is self-defense’: Iran will not stop strikes until US-backed Israeli war ends
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran has evidence of Washington’s direct support for the Israeli war
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on 15 June that Iran will not end its strikes against Israel until the US-backed Israeli war against the country is halted.
“We are defending ourselves; our defense is entirely legitimate,” the foreign minister said.
“This defense is our response to aggression. If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added.
Araghchi condemned the Israeli attack on Iran’s offshore South Pars gas field on Saturday night, warning that “dragging the conflict to the Persian Gulf is a strategic mistake, and its aim is to drag the war beyond Iranian territory.”
“Israel’s attack would never have happened without the green light and support,” he affirmed, stressing that Iran does not believe US statements claiming Washington is not involved in the Israeli war. “It is necessary for the US to condemn Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities if they want to prove their goodwill.”
Araghchi also said Iran “has hard evidence that American forces have been supporting the Israeli regime.”
Iran carried out a large-scale missile and drone attack against Israel on 14 June, resulting in significant destruction in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Iran’s military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used advanced ballistic and hypersonic missiles including the Haj Qassem, Khaibar Shekan, Emad, and Qader missiles.
Footage showed heavily damaged and destroyed buildings in the Bat Yam area south of Tel Aviv.
Israeli oil refineries and army radio confirmed that pipelines and transmission lines in Haifa have been damaged by Iranian strikes, resulting in the shutdown of some downstream operations.
The Weizmann Institute of Science in the city of Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, often described as Israel’s equivalent of MIT, also sustained damage in the latest Iranian missile barrage, with at least one laboratory building catching fire.
Over 100 were injured in Bat Yam alone, while 35 Israelis remain “missing,” according to Hebrew reports. At least ten Israelis have been killed since Iran launched Operation True Promise 3 on 13 June in response to Israel’s war.
The Israeli Ministry of Health Spokesperson announced that 385 patients arrived at hospitals within 24 hours.
Iran has also announced the interception by its air defenses of dozens of Israeli drones and missiles targeting its cities over the past two days.
The Iranian military said in recent hours that it will intensify its strikes if the US-backed war does not end.
Israel has bombed several military sites across Iran, as well as oil terminals in Tehran and a South Pars gas field facility.
The Israeli army announced on 15 June that it had attacked 80 targets in Tehran on Saturday evening, “including the headquarters of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the headquarters of the nuclear project (SPND), and additional targets where the Iranian regime hid the nuclear archive,” as well as 170 targets since the start of the war.
According to a 14 June report by Middle East Eye (MEE), the US covertly delivered about 300 Hellfire missiles to Israel before it declared war on Iran.
Two Israeli officials claimed to Axios that US President Donald Trump was pretending to oppose an Israeli attack in public, while approving in private. "We had a clear US green light," one official claimed.
Axios wrote that the “goal was to convince Iran that no attack was imminent and make sure Iranians on Israel's target list wouldn't move to new locations.”
“Two months ago, I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it! Today is day 61,” Trump said on 13 June.