In Azerbaijan, President Pezeshkian says Iran taught Israel a big lesson

Addressing the 17th ECO Summit in Khankendi, Azerbaijan, President Pezeshkian said the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out defensive military operations against Israeli targets in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

The president said Israel started the war by violating all international laws, including Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter, was joined by the United States, and carried out a range of criminal activities against Iranian off-duty military personnel, university professors, civilians, nuclear facilities for peaceful activities that were under the inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), and public infrastructure.

He thanked ECO members for their “responsible positions” during the Israeli war on Iran and said the ongoing summit was another opportunity to let the world know about the regional and global ramifications of the Israeli war of aggression on Iran.

President Pezeshkian was greeted and welcomed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as he arrived at the venue of the summit in Khankendi on Friday.

The Israeli regime attacked Iran in an unprovoked act of aggression overnight on June 13. A number of top Iranian military and security officials and scientists were assassinated in overnight targeted strikes. Residential buildings were directly struck. So were Iranian nuclear facilities.

Later that same day, the Iranian Armed Forces promised to “open the gates of hell” to Israel and began waves of punitive strikes inside the Israeli-occupied territories, hitting sensitive sites in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa with salvos of missiles and drones.

On June 22, the United States violated Iranian airspace and carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran responded a day later by launching missiles at the United States’ largest military base in West Asia, the headquarters of the United States Air Forces Central Command in Qatar. A day after that, on June 24, Israel ceased fire.

At least 935 Iranians were killed in the aggression, including 140 women and children. Over 5,640 people were also wounded.