Iranian ambassador to UN does not rule out attacks on Europe

Ali Bahreini, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, left open the possibility that Tehran could strike European countries as the war is set to enter its third week.

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“Let me make it clear, our military forces have announced a policy [that] any facility, any base which is used to attack Iran would be a legitimate target for our military force,” the diplomat said on Euronews’ interview programme 12 Minutes With.

When asked whether this could include sites located in Europe, Bahreini responded, “We will defend our country according to what we need to make our country secure and to make sure that there is no aggression against our country.”

On Friday, President Emmanuel Macron announced that a French soldier was killed in an attack in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, marking the first French military death in the Middle East war. Six other soldiers were wounded.

Without directly claiming the attack, a pro-Iranian, Shia armed group, Ashab al-Kahf, announced in a statement that it would now target “all French interests in Iraq and the region,” particularly following the arrival of a French aircraft carrier, now operating in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Separately, two days after the war started, a suspected Iranian-made drone struck RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The following day, two drones heading for the base were intercepted.

The British Ministry of Defence said it believed the drone that struck the base was launched by a pro-Iran militia in Lebanon or in western Iraq. Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted the drone had been launched before the UK announced it would allow the US to use UK bases for “defensive” actions.

Meanwhile, Turkey, home to the US military’s Incirlik Air Base, has also been caught in the middle of the escalating war. NATO has shot down two incoming Iranian missiles in recent days.

Bahreini told Euronews that Iranian officials have rejected this news about attacks in Turkish airspace. “Our president was in conversation with the Turkish president, and I think it has become quite clear to them that there has been no attack from our side on that country.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Monday that he had spoken to his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, telling him that the violation of Turkey’s airspace “cannot be excused for any reason whatsoever.”

In response to Iranian ballistic missiles entering Turkish airspace, NATO said it “stands ready” to defend its members’ territory. NATO sources told Euronews that there is not yet any indication that Turkey is triggering formal proceedings within the alliance to initiate action against Iran.

Iran ‘not targeting Gulf States’

The Iranian diplomat strongly criticised the US-Israeli attacks on his country, stating they violate international law. He also denounced what he said were US assaults on civilian infrastructure in Iran, pointing to the strike on a primary school in Minab that Iranian officials say killed 168 people, the majority of whom were children.

On the other hand, Bahreini denied that Tehran is attacking civilian sites across the Gulf region. Euronews journalists on the ground in Dubai and Doha have been documenting Tehran’s attacks on civilian sites, including airports, residential buildings and hotels, but these claims were rejected by the diplomat, who said they were “not verified.”

All 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 neighbours for the strikes.

He also said that Iran’s armed forces had been instructed that “from now on they should not attack neighbouring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked from those countries.”

This statement was made before the new, hardline Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed.

Aside from the rising death toll in the countries involved, the continued war in the Middle East is having increasing economic impacts, sending oil prices skyrocketing. However, US President Donald Trump on Thursday spun the spiralling cost of oil in a Truth Social post, suggesting this would ultimately be beneficial for Americans.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s timeline and endgame for the war are murky. Earlier this week, he sent conflicting messages, first stating the war “is very complete, pretty much”, and hours later saying “it could go further (…) and we’re going to go further.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian did lay out his terms for ending the war, writing on social media platform “X” that “the only way to end this war (…) is recognising Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm international guarantees against future aggression.”

For Bahreini, Iran’s goal is to “end this vicious circle of negotiating and being attacked.”

“We want to continue our defensive action to reach a point where the aggression is stopped. They should come to a new understanding that they cannot defeat Iran.”