The Iranian president has claimed that his country was actively engaged in a war with the United States, Israel, and Europe, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
Masoud Pezeshkian numerous comments regarding the escalating tensions between the Persian state and the Western bloc came from an interview posted on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website.
“We are in a full-scale war with the U.S., Israel and Europe; they don’t want our country to remain stable,” Pezeskian said.
A report from the Hill gathered further comments from the Iranian president.
”Here, they are besieging us from every aspect, they are putting us in difficulty and constraint, creating problems — in terms of livelihood, culturally, politically, and security-wise — while raising society’s expectations,” Pezeskian said. “On one side, they block our sales, our exchanges, our trade, and on the other side, expectations in society have risen. Consequently, we must all help with all our might to fix the country."
Pezeskian also said that the conflict is “more complicated and more difficult” than the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of 1980 that generated more than 1 million casualties. U.S. and Israeli strikes have targeted Iranian nuclear and warfighting capabilities, killing an estimated 1,100. Iranian missile barrages would go on to kill 28 Israelis, according to the Associated Press.
The comments come in the lead-up to President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting on Monday to discuss the Gazan peace plan and regional tensions.