Iran says Israel using 'same pretext' for attacks as US did for Iraq invasion

Iran said that Israel is carrying out unprovoked attacks under “similar pretexts” to those used by the United States during its invasion of Iraq. The spokesperson stated that Israel launched the offensive even after international organisations confirmed that Iran is not close to developing nuclear weapons.

Talking to Al-Jazeera, the spokesperson of the Iranian government, Fatemeh Mohajerani, said that IIsrael's attacks on Iran were based on false pretences, similar to the US invasion of Iraq.

“Iran has repeatedly said that if the problem is the global issue of nuclear weapons … we have said again and again that we have no intention of pursuing them,” Al-Jazeera quoted her.

Mohajerani added that the ongoing military aggression against a Middle Eastern country is not unfamiliar to the world, describing it as a tactic that “has been tried repeatedly over recent decades”.

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"Wasn’t Iraq invaded under similar pretexts? And after all these years, did they ever find chemical weapons?" she added. 

Moreover, the spokesperson described Iran's “lawful defense” and retaliation against Israeli aggression as the country’s right that is also endorsed by "all international protocols."

“Over the past 200 years, Iran has not initiated any war. We have no interest in starting one and deliberately avoid it,” she said, but for now, “what we are witnessing is a legitimate act of self-defence”.

Earlier, in Geneva, Iranian and Israeli officials entered a clash during a heated UN Security Council session where Israel pledged to keep striking until Iran’s “nuclear threat” is dismantled.