Talks, Missiles Two Necessary Coping Strategies: Iran’s President

Speaking at a live televised interview on Tuesday evening, Raisi said Operation True Promise that Iran launched recently in retaliation against the Israeli regime indicated that the Islamic Republic stands powerfully against any hostile action.

However, Iran has never bowed out of the negotiating table and has always expressed its logical and admissible stances in the talks, unlike the US and the Europeans which have repeatedly reneged on their promises, he said.

Asked if the solution to the country's problems is missiles, or negotiation, or both, the president said, “We have emphasized many times that the Islamic Republic of Iran warmly shakes the hands of all countries that seek friendly relations with us, but some countries have always promoted Iranophobia in the past 45 years.”

Pointing to 15 reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency that have confirmed the peacefulness of Iran’s nuclear program, Raisi said, “Nevertheless, there is not a sympathetic ear for those reports. On whether the negotiations alone can address the problem, (the answer is) no. Both the negotiations and the missile, when necessary, can do it. In fact, it can be said that missiles (are needed to) respond to missiles.”

Denouncing more than seven months of Israeli onslaught on Gaza, Raisi said all experts believe that the winners of this field are the resistant Palestinians of Gaza and the losers are the Zionist regime and its supporters.

He described the continuation of the crimes committed by the Zionist regime despite the acceptance of a ceasefire by Hamas as a shame and humiliation of the supporters of this regime before the eyes of the people of the world.

“Today, the cry for justice is heard not only in universities in the Western world, but everywhere in the world, and it is these failures that have caused the Zionist regime to despair, and one of the manifestations of this despair was the attack on the consular building of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus, against all international regulations and frameworks,” the president noted, his official website reported.