TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman says none of the parties that have accused Iran of involvement in the war in Ukraine has offered any evidence to support their claim, amid accusations that Iranian drones were used by Russia.
Nasser Kanaani said in his weekly presser on Monday that Iran is not a party to the war adding that Tehran has held talks with Ukrainian officials on their anti-Iran accusations.
Kanaani called on Ukrainian officials to stop leveling “accusations” against Iran, saying there is no proof that shows Iran is a party to the war.
The spokesman also turned to Israel’s anti-Iran threats, saying Tehran attaches no significance to such rhetoric.
He said the regime knows well that Iran will give a strong response to any act of aggression.
Kanaani noted that Israel is facing numerous internal crises and it uses a language of threat against Iran to distract attentions from its fragile internal situation.
The spokesman added that the Zionist regime has a long record of engaging in acts of aggression in the region, saying such crimes have only been possible thanks to the support the regime has received from the U.S. and some European countries.
Kanaani also talked about reports that foreign ministers of Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the UK have called on Iran to accept a binding international arbitration on the issue of the downed Ukrainian aircraft in January 2020.
He said Iran has always stressed the need for consultations and negotiations on the issue in compliance with its international obligations and internal regulations.
The spokesman also turned to the talks for the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
He said Iran is fully prepared to conclude the negotiations for the removal of sanctions based on the draft agreement that is the result of months-long talks with involved parties.
Kanaani, however, stressed that this should be based on Iran’s red lines and that Iran will not wait indefinitely on the issue.
He also said that the Islamic Republic will spare no efforts to hold to account all culprits behind the U.S. assassination of the country’s top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani.
Kanaani praised the role of General Soleimani as a distinguished figure in the fight against terrorism and consolidation of the resistance front.
“This glorious martyr devoted his life to faithfully serving the Iranian nation, Islam, and regional and international peace and security. He played a prominent role within the framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strategic policies to secure regional and global peace and stability. He took effective measures against international terrorism and terrorist groups in the region,” he said.
He explained that the U.S. government, under former president Donald Trump, violated international regulations and legal principles and plotted and carried out the assassination of General Soleimani.
“This criminal act came as he was a top-ranking Iranian official and was on an official visit to Iraq. The criminal act of the United States in assassinating General Soleimani is a clear act of terrorism that was planned and implemented in an organized manner,” Kanaani said.
“Under international legal conventions, the US bears full responsibility for the crime, while all architects, organizers and culprits are accountable for the terrorist crime. The [Iranian] Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with other state institutions and the Judiciary, has therefore exhausted all available legal channels to bring the criminals to justice, and will seriously continue its efforts in domestic, regional and international courts of law until a final settlement is reached,” the Iranian diplomat stressed.
Elsewhere in his Monday remarks, Kanaani touched upon the restoration of diplomatic ties between Iran and Egypt, saying Tehran welcomes any positive initiative in this regard.
He said that Iranian and Egyptian foreign ministers held talks last month on the sidelines of the second regional summit on Iraq in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
During the talks, the two sides agreed to continue negotiations to work out a solution on consular issues, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman explained.
“The two sides have basically no problems for [holding] dialogues, meetings, and bilateral exchanges of views,” he said.
Kanaani also pointed to the diplomatic efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“There was a consensus that negotiations should continue with the aim of activating and finalizing the [Vienna] talks, and that the exchange of messages should go on at different levels.”
“Iran is fully prepared to conclude the Vienna negotiations on the basis of a draft negotiation package, which is the outcome of months of hard and intensive negotiations and observes its red lines. This readiness is not everlasting, and the ball is now in the Western side’s court,” he said.
Kanaani also underscored Iran’s principled policy of helping Afghan people and authorities to resolve problems in the war-ravaged country, saying that the Islamic Republic has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees for years even though it has not been offered any foreign assistance.
He also called for efforts to promote the political settlement of the Syria crisis, emphasizing there is no military solution to end it.
