Related Articles
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that peace is only possible if Israel unconditionally stops its aggression and guarantees an end to what he called “Zionist terrorist adventures.”
“Otherwise, our response to the enemy will be harsher and make them regret it,” Pezeshkian wrote on X.
Russian specialists are still working at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant and the situation at the site remains normal and under control, the head of Russia’s nuclear agency said on Friday.
Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev said he hoped Moscow’s warnings to Israel not to target the facility had been heard by Israeli leaders.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran has rejected a US request to open negotiations.
“The Americans have asked for negotiations, and our answer is no,” Araghchi said in comments published by the Entekhab news outlet.
He also said US President Donald Trump’s language around Israeli military actions shows Washington is already involved. “There is no longer any need for proof,” he said.
Araghchi added that calls for ending the war have already begun and will continue to grow. “We are engaged in legitimate self-defense, and this defense will not stop,” he said.
Russia would view the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a highly dangerous escalation and considers regime change in Iran “unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Sky News on Friday.
“They will open the Pandora's box,” Peskov said, referring to Khamenei being named as a possible target of Israeli or US strikes.
He warned that the region is already extremely tense and said any expansion of the conflict would further destabilize the Middle East. “It will lead only to another circle of confrontation and escalation of tension,” he said.
Peskov added that an assassination attempt could trigger a response from inside Iran and fuel extremist sentiment. “Those who are speaking about this should keep it in mind,” he said.
His comments followed a statement by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said Thursday that Israel's war aims include removing Iran’s nuclear and missile threats, adding that “such a man [Khamenei] can no longer be allowed to exist.”
US President Donald Trump, who has said he will decide within two weeks whether the United States will join Israel’s military campaign, said earlier this week that the US would not kill Khamenei—“at least not yet.”
Iran condemned Israel’s strike on the Arak heavy water reactor, saying it targeted a safeguarded nuclear facility in violation of international law, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday.
Araghchi urged the UN Security Council to enforce its own resolutions against military attacks on nuclear sites, warning that failure to respond would undermine the global nonproliferation system.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Thursday that the reactor—while non-operational and containing no nuclear material—had sustained damage to key buildings, including the distillation unit. The IAEA said there were no radiological consequences and that the adjacent heavy water production plant was not hit.
