BENGALURU: More than 60 days into the war that has destabilised the global economy and sent oil prices spiralling out of control, there are no signs of the Iran war ending soon. While there is no decisive military or diplomatic win for the United States or Israel even after two months, for Iran it is a war they never wanted.
“Iran never wanted war, it was forced on us. We don’t want it still, but if the enemies persist then Iran is ready to sustain the war even if it goes up to 10 years,” Dr Abdul Majeed Hakim Ilahi, representative of the Supreme Leader of Iran, told The New Sunday Express. He was in the city to attend the prayer meeting of the former Supreme Leader, late Ayatollah Khamenei.
“They (US and Israel) thought the war would end in three days; Iran will buckle and they will split it into five countries. That did not happen, nor will it ever happen in the future. Iranians will shed their blood but not give an inch of their land away", he said
"The enemies spoke about regime change, little realising that Iran has a Constitution and they can’t change it. The US claims that it has bombed all our nuclear sites, yet President Trump accuses us of having nuclear weapons! We are signatories to the NPT and have the right to develop peaceful nuclear technology for electricity and medicine under the NPT,” he added.
Dr Ilahi said the war that the US and Israel launched on February 28 was to “cover up individual issues (of US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu).”
Ilahi: No country gives women freedom more than Iran
“This is not a war between countries; whether it is between Iran and the US or Iran and the Zionist regime. They knew that the world would have to bear the cost of the war, yet they attacked Iran to distract world attention from the Jeffrey Epstein files.
They assassinated our Supreme Leader and other top leaders, 170 innocent girls of Minab school and hundreds of civilians. The late Ayatollah did not hide in safe places or bunkers. He had said his security should be no different from the over 90 million Iranians. We believe in shahadat (martyrdom),” Dr Ilahi explained.
On the war, he said the world is reeling under the 60-day war. “Iran has survived US sanctions for 47 years. People are leading normal lives there despite economic challenges,” he added. On ‘weaponsing’ the Strait of Hormuz, Dr Ilahi said the strategic waterway through which 20% of global shipment passes, “was open for thousands of years until the enemies came from 7,00 miles and initiated the war”.
Countering rumours around the health of the present Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the conflict in Iranian leadership, the top Iranian cleric said there was no truth in either statements. “These are planted in the news for obvious reasons,” he added.
On the reported and widely criticised executions of civilians, who took part in the January protest, Dr Ilahi said, “Less than 10 people have been executed since January. These are people who had killed people, children, police, torched mosques, libraries etc. The Bazaar had played a major role in protesting against the severe economic crisis.
There was no problem with the protest, but it was found that some protestors were trained by Israel and supported with the latest weapons. As per the Iranian law, there is capital punishment for those who kill innocent people intentionally,” he said.
On women’s freedom in Iran, Dr Ilahi said that in “no other country do women enjoy as much freedom as in Iran. Girls make up for more than 60% of our student population”.
On India-Iran ties, Dr Ilahi said the two countries share strong civilisational ties, which will expand and get stronger. “The Indian PM spoke to the Iranian President and so did the External Affairs Minister, with his Iranian counterpart. The talks were very successful. The Indian flagged ships were allowed to pass (through the Strait of Hormuz),” he added.