Tehran did not attack civilian sites in the Gulf region amid the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East, Iran’s ambassador to the UN office in Geneva told Euronews.
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In an exclusive interview, Ali Bahreini accused the US and Israel of attacking civilian targets in Iran, but denied that Tehran is attacking civilian sites across the Gulf region, despite existing evidence proving Iran was behind the strikes.
“I cannot accept that claim,” Bahreini told Euronews when asked about Iranian attacks on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“Our military forces have been instructed to exclusively target military bases which are used by the United States against our country,” he said, adding that Iran has sent “a very clear message to our neighboring countries that we are friends, we belong to the same family”.
“But they should not allow the United States to use their lands and those facilities to attack Iran”.
Euronews journalists on the ground in Dubai and Doha have been documenting Tehran’s attacks on civilian sites, including airports, residential buildings and hotels.
Bahraini rejected these claims, calling them “not verified”.
He said Iran has been “in contact” with the Gulf states “to explain for them what we have done and what we haven’t done”.
“We are ready to share information with them about the operations we have made, about the measures we have taken, and if they have any evidence, we are ready to verify it.”
But he also accused the US and Israel of trying to set up Tehran.
“There has been a large number of cases in which the United States or Israel have made some operations in those countries to attribute it to Iran,” he claimed without providing more evidence.
“Our military forces have given a very clear assurance that they are not targeting civilian targets in those countries. The only thing they are doing is to target military bases”.
At the same time, the Iranian ambassador alluded to the fact that the US could allegedly be using civilian sites in the Gulf region for military purposes.
“Sometimes the US military is using some locations which seem civil, but actually it is a military center which is used by the United States to attack Iran”.
In this case, he continued, civilian sites are becoming “as a legitimate target for Iran”.
Euronews correspondents on the ground in the UAE and Qatar have verified that the civilian sites that were hit by Iran have no connection with the US or Israeli military.
Euronews correspondent in Dubai had to seek shelter at the airport during the attack by Tehran.
When confronted with this evidence and asked about what would be the purpose for the US and Israel to target civilian sites across the region, Bahreini claimed it would be to “drag those countries into war”.
All of the Gulf countries attacked by Iran since the beginning of the war reiterated on numerous occasions that they strongly “condemned the unprovoked Iranian attacks” against them.
The ambassador’s comments came a few days after Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised to his Gulf neighbors for the strikes.
He also said that Iran’s armed forces had been instructed that “from now on they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked from those countries.”
This statement was made before the new, hardline Ayatollah Mojtaba Khameini was appointed.
Iranian ambassador to UN not ruling out attacks on Europe
Since the beginning of the Iran war, the situation escalated beyond the Middle East as a British base in Cyprus was attacked by an Iranian-made Shahed drone, and two Iranian ballistic missiles were also intercepted by Turkey as they entered NATO airspace.
Bahreini said Iranian officials “have rejected these news about making any attack in the space of Turkey”.
Yet he also said that as with the Gulf region, Iran will attack any base or facility “which are used in order to attack our country”, even if that site is in Europe.
“Any facility, any base which is used to attack Iran would be a legitimate target for our military force,” he told Euronews, not ruling out attacks on Europe.
“Our military forces will define their defensive strategies according to the threat and extent of the threats which are imposed against our country”.
Tens of thousands of US troops are stationed across Europe on around 40 military bases.