Neither want war, nor afraid of it: Iran says 'fully prepared' to defend against Israeli attacks

Fearing Israel’s “precise and surprising” retaliatory attack, Iran has now claimed that it is “fully prepared to defend its sovereignty” if it is struck by its arch-foe.

Israel’s response will be ‘deadly, precise, surprising’

Tehran’s statement comes over a week after it fired around 200 missiles into Israel on October 1 as a retaliation to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh along with an Iranian general.

Also, Iran claims of being “fully prepared” for retaliatory strike comes after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed this week that his country’s response would be “deadly, precise and surprising”.

‘Stands fully prepared to defend’

During his address to the UN Security Council on Thursday, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the Islamic republic “stands fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any aggression targeting its vital interests and security”.

Iran not seeking ’escalation’

Iravani further said that Iran was not seeking “war or escalation” but would exercise its “inherent right to self-defence fully in line with international law and will notify the Security Council of its legitimate response.”

Iran ’not afraid’ of war with Israel

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Thursday said that “we do not want a war”, but “we are not afraid of it, and we will be ready for any scenario.”

The warnings come against the backdrop of a war between Israel and Iran-allied Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that has been raging since October 7 last year and in the recent week, has expanded to include Lebanon.

“Lebanon stands on the brink of a humanitarian collapse, and the international community must not allow this catastrophe to worsen,” Iran’s UN representative Iravani said.

With inputs from AFP.