Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told regime media on Thursday that Tehran “told the Americans in messages clearly” that the rogue terrorist regime would bomb Israel this weekend.
“We told the Americans in messages clearly that the decision taken by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council headed by the president to punish the Zionist regime [Israel] was definite and final” the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Amir-Abdollahian as saying, “and after the punitive action (Operation True Promise), approximately at 2:30 am on Sunday of this week, we sent another message to the United States through diplomatic channels mentioning that we are not looking for the escalation of tension in the region.”
Amir-Abdollahian reportedly made the comments in New York, where he arrived on Thursday to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting.
The foreign minister’s claim, which he also reportedly made on Sunday, contradicts statements by members of the administration of leftist President Joe Biden, who have insisted that they did not receive and forewarning of Iran’s attack and calling such reports “ridiculous.”
Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, launching over 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles at its neighbor. The Islamist regime claimed that the attack was a necessary response to an airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that eliminated seven senior members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Israel is widely believed to have orchestrated the strike but has not taken responsibility for the action.
File/Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is seen before a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Kishida’s office in Tokyo Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (Issei Kato/Pool Photo via AP)
The Iranian assault on Israeli skies was a catastrophic failure. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the country managed to intercept all drones and cruise missiles launched its way and the vast majority of the ballistic missiles. The IDF claimed “99 percent” of threats were neutralized and the few that landed caused minimal damage. Only one casualty – an Arab Bedouin girl injured by shrapnel – was reported.
Iran has nonetheless claimed the terrorist attack, which it has branded “Operation True Promise,” was a “success.” IRGC officials claimed without evidence that they successfully “hit a large intelligence base” and other Israeli targets.
The unprecedented escalation in violence by Iran has alarmed the free world, though its repressive allies such as China and Russia have supported the bombing of Israel as a “restrained” response. As the nation’s top diplomat, Amir-Abdollahian has been at the forefront of making the case that Iran is the reasonable action in its conflict with Israel, despite Iranian leaders regularly calling for genocide against Israelis and Jews generally for years.
IRNA quoted the foreign minister saying that Tehran sent two messages to Washington insisting it was “not looking for further tensions in the region.”
“Iran’s foreign minister also stated that the US was informed well in advance that American bases and interests would not be targeted in the region, unless Washington wages a war in support of the Zionist regime,” IRNA reported. “The messages were exchanged especially through the Switzerland Embassy which represents US interests in Iran, and also official diplomatic channels.”
Iran did not successfully hit any American or Israeli bases as part of “Operation True Promise” – or any other target.
Amir-Abdollahian alleged the unprecedented assault on Israel was “in line with international law and [the] legitimate right to self-defense,” Iran’s state-run PressTV added.
Amir-Abdollahian had made similar comments on Sunday, stating that Iranian diplomats had used intermediaries to reach out to Washington. Unnamed officials from several regional countries – including Turkey, Jordan, and Iraqi – also claimed in multiple media outlets that they had helped share messages back and forth from Iran to America. Speaking to Reuters, the Turkish alleged diplomat said that the Biden administration responded to the first messages stating Washington would not respond to Iran’s belligerence it if was kept “within certain limits,” effectively green-lighting the bombing of Israel, one of America’s top global allies.
The Biden administration has aggressively denied these reports.
“Iran never gave us a message giving us the time or the targets,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters on Monday. “This whole narrative out there that Iran passed us a message about what they were going to do is ridiculous.”
In a column published by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, President Biden himself made the case that America could soon see itself involved in a war against Iran. He made the convoluted argument that approving Congressional funding for both Israel and the Ukrainian government to continue its decade-long war on Russia was the best way to keep America safe.
“Both Ukraine and Israel defended themselves against these attacks, holding the line and protecting their citizens. And both did it with critical help from the U.S.,” the column bearing Biden’s byline read.
“[If] Iran succeeds in significantly escalating its assault on Israel, the U.S. could be drawn in,” Biden wrote. “Israel is our strongest partner in the Middle East; it’s unthinkable that we would stand by if its defenses were weakened and Iran was able to carry out the destruction it intended this weekend.”
“We can make that outcome less likely by replenishing Israel’s air defenses and providing military aid now, so its defenses can remain fully stocked and ready,” the column argued.
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