In an interview on the BBC’s Today programme, Khatibzadeh said Iran had sent a message to the Oval Office following the strikes, warning Washington against taking contradictory positions.

“You cannot have your cake and eat it at the same time,” he said.

He added: “You cannot ask for a ceasefire, accept the terms and conditions and the areas it applies to — including Lebanon — and then allow your ally to carry out attacks.”

He said Israel’s strikes amounted to “a form of genocide”, while Israel has maintained it is targeting the militant group Hezbollah, which it said has been firing rockets into Israel.

Khatibzadeh said the United States “must choose” between war and peace.

“They cannot have both at the same time. They are mutually exclusive — it is quite clear,” he said.

On this weekend’s talks between Washington and Tehran in Pakistan, he said “back-and-forth messages” between both sides continued through Islamabad last night.

When asked whether Iran would withdraw from negotiations if Israeli strikes persist, he said: “We are very much focused on the wellbeing of the whole Middle East.”

Khatibzadeh said United States Vice President JD Vance is expected to lead the American delegation, while Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will head Tehran’s side.

When asked whether Iran would urge Hezbollah to stop firing rockets from Lebanon, he said: “We ask everyone in the Middle East to abide by the ceasefire that we reached with the Americans.”

He added that under the US-Iran agreement, both sides and their respective allies were to observe the ceasefire from the outset.

When asked if Iran would instruct Hezbollah to halt attacks, Khatibzadeh described the group as a “pure Lebanese freedom movement”.

Pressed on whether Iranian officers were advising, training and arming Hezbollah, he acknowledged Iran’s support.

“I am not denying that,” he said, adding that Iran provides “support to this freedom and resistance movement”, but insisted that “they are not acting on our behalf”.

On maritime security at the Strait of Hormuz, Khatibzadeh said Iran would “provide security for safe passage” through the strait, which he described as having been “open for millennia” before the conflict with the United States began.

However, he said reopening would only take place “after the United States withdraws this aggression”, in apparent reference to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

He said Iran would act in line with international norms and international law, but stressed that the strait was not in international waters, adding that safe passage depended on “the goodwill of Iran and Oman”.

When asked whether safe passage meant vessels would not be charged or threatened, Khatibzadeh said Iran wanted the strait to remain “peaceful”, but warned it would not allow the Gulf to be “misused by warships”.

Ends

Keywords: news, NST, Malaysia, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, United States, ceasefire, Middle East, diplomacy, Hezbollah, Strait of Hormuz

From: Sein