Iranian foreign minister says it will not escalate conflict and mocks Israeli weapons as ‘toys that our children play with’

Iran's foreign minister on Friday refused to admit that Israel was behind it recent attack on his country and describes the weapons used as more like children's toys.

“What happened last night was not a strike,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in an interview with NBC News' Tom Llamas. “They are more like the toys our children play with – not a drone.”

Amirabdollahian, who spoke to NBC News in New York, where he was attending a session of the United Nations Security Council, said Iran had no plans to respond unless Israel launched a major attack.

“As long as there is no new adventurism against our interests in Israel, we will not have any new reactions,” he said.

But the Foreign Secretary warned that if Israel attacks Iran, the response will be swift and severe.

“If Israel takes decisive action against my country and this is proven to us, then our response will be immediate and at the maximum level and will make them take action,” he said. regret”.

The recent cycle of violence between Israel and Iran began on April 1 when Israel Bombing the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing two generals and five officers in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran responded 12 days later, launching a missile unprecedented direct military attack on Israel involving more than 300 missiles and drones. However, the attack did not cause significant damage. Nearly all missiles and drones were intercepted by Israel, the US and other allied forces.

Amirabdollahian said the attack was intended as a “warning”. “We could have attacked Haifa and Tel Aviv,” he said. “We can also target all of Israel's economic ports.”

“But our red line is civilians,” he added. “We only have military purposes.”

Even though Israel was locked in a shadow war with Israel for decades, with Iran arming and training proxies hostile to Israel in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, Iran's aerial attack marked the first Tehran first organized a public military attack on Israel.

In the days that followed, the Biden administration called on Israel to exercise restraint and not launch a retaliatory strike that could trigger an all-out war between the two longtime rivals.

However, Israel retaliated on Thursday night, attacking a military airport near the city of Isfahan in central Iran. According to Iranian state media, nuclear facilities in the area were not damaged and there were no reports of casualties.

The attack was downplayed by Iranian state media and most Israeli officials remained silent. Experts said the limited scope of the strike and the lack of public statements afterward seemed to suggest that both sides were looking for ways to ease tensions.

US officials called for calm. “We do not want to see this conflict escalate,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.

The Biden administration has accused Iran of “complicity” in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, citing Tehran's years-long effort to arm and train Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.

Iran supports Hamas but the government says it did not order or coordinate the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

In his interview, Amirabdollahian said Iran had no prior knowledge of the Hamas attack. He also said Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a liberation movement that opposes Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.

He called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu “not okay” and blamed the Israeli government for the stalled hostage negotiations. He accused Israel of making excessive demands to compensate for its failure to achieve its goals in the war in Gaza.

“They cannot destroy Hamas or capture the leaders inside Gaza, cannot disarm Hamas, cannot destroy weapons and equipment,” Amirabdollahian said.

“So they resorted to killing women and children, and now at the negotiating table they are trying to get what they cannot get in reality,” he added.

However, the Foreign Secretary said he hoped to reach an agreement soon on the release of the hostages as part of a broad agreement. Hamas “is ready to proceed with the release of prisoners in the form of an all-inclusive humanitarian political package.”

“I think now is a good time,” he said. “There's a good chance of this.”