Iran’s President: Neighbouring countries won't be targeted anymore unless US attacks from there

Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, announced on Saturday that Iran would no longer target neighbouring countries unless the United States or Israel attacks from there.

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Al Jazeera reports that Mr Pezeshkian said this resolution was reached by Iran’s interim council on Friday, a further confirmation that the country is still undergoing regular governance despite the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli strikes.

“In remarks carried out by Iranian media, the president also apologised to the neighbouring countries for the strikes that took place in the past days,” Al Jazeera reports.

Since the US and Israel launched an unprovoked war on Iran last Saturday, Iran has fired missiles at Israel and American interests in the Middle East, including bases, hotels and oil infrastructure.

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Some of the countries Iran has targeted include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

The attacks have grounded airports, businesses and public gatherings in these countries and have led to a spike in global oil prices.

While Iran now seeks to stop attacks on its Gulf neighbours, it continues to ensure no ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it targeted an oil tanker, Prima, in the Gulf with a drone “after ignoring repeated warnings from the IRGC Navy regarding the prohibition of traffic and the unsafe nature of the Strait of Hormuz,” Al Jazeera quotes the Iranian Tasnim news agency as saying.

The report said the incident against “the offending tanker” occurred on Saturday morning.

READ ALSO: WHO confirms 13 attacks on health facilities in Iran as US/Israel-Iran War continues

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said earlier that no fewer than 3,000 vessels and 20,000 seafarers were stranded in the Middle East due to the ongoing war by the US and Israel against Iran.

The crucial Strait of Hormuz global shipping corridor marking the entrance to the Persian Gulf, is essentially closed due to the threat of strikes from Iran and elsewhere, the IMO declared.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, warned of the global “knock-on” effect from the closure of the sea lane responsible for 20 per cent of the world’s oil.

Mr Dominguez disclosed that the Strait of Hormuz was closed after a tugboat assisting another vessel in the strait on Friday morning was struck killing four seafarers.