Iran is thankful to Türkiye for standing by it during the “unequal and cruel war” with Israel, according to the Iranian ambassador to Ankara.
“Turkish people are in solidarity and unity with Iranians. This goes to show how close the two nations are,” Mohammad Hassan Habibullahzadeh said Friday as he met with journalists at the Turkish Press Federation in Ankara.
Iran’s neighbor, Türkiye, was quick to condemn Israel’s attacks and unprecedented U.S. strikes on Iranian soil, warning against the risk of escalating the conflict and destabilizing the entire Middle East.
On Iran and Türkiye’s relations in the fight against terrorism, Habibullahzadeh said there was an understanding in his country that "Türkiye's security is Iran's security."
Terrorist organizations in the region are sometimes used by foreign countries to create insecurity and instability, Habibullahzadeh said, expressing the need for extensive cooperation against the threat.
On Iran’s 12-day war with Israel, Habibullahzadeh said Iran does not accept the term "cease-fire" because it was established with “the other side’s request.”
The war erupted on June 13 when Israel launched strikes that it said were aimed at halting Iran from developing a nuclear weapon – a charge Tehran denies.
Israeli strikes killed at least 30 top commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, according to local media, including its commander-in-chief, Hossein Salam, and the head of its aerospace forces, Amirali Hajizadeh, who oversaw the country's ballistic missile program.
Israeli attacks, which killed at least 627 civilians and wounded nearly 4,900 people, were against international rules and laws, Habibullahzadeh said.
“The Zionist regime (Israel) finally asked the U.S. to intervene in the last days of the war due to their miscalculations,” Habibullahzadeh argued.
Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
The U.S. stepped in on Sunday to hit Iran's three most important strikes with a wave of cruise missiles and bunker-buster bombs dropped by B-2 bombers, designed to penetrate deep into the ground to damage the heavily fortified targets. Iran, in retaliation, fired missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar on Monday but caused no known casualties.
Habibullahzadeh, who said that the attacks have stopped for now, said that his country will respond if there are any more attacks.
