Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that the Islamic Republic does not seek war, but will defend the rights of its people and will give a proportionate response to the latest Israeli aggression against the country.

According to The Iran Project, the president was speaking at a cabinet session on Sunday, a day after the Israeli regime launched attacks on Iranian military sites.

He said that the Islamic Republic and the Iranian people have shown over the past 45 years that they would not back down against any aggressor.

Emphasizing Iran’s right to respond to the Israeli aggression, Pezeshkian said: “We do not seek war, but we will defend our country and the rights of our people. We will give a proportionate response to the aggression by the Zionist regime.”

The president also referred to the martyrdom of four Iranian armed forces who lost their lives while defending the country’s airspace against the Israeli aggression. He extended his condolences to their families and all the armed forces of Iran. 

Further in his remarks, Pezeshkian spoke about the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli regime against the people of Gaza and Lebanon.

He said all people across the world are witnessing that the regime’s backers, at the top of them the US, claim to be defend freedom and human rights, but remain silent on the killing of tens of thousands of women and children.

The Iranian president warned that tensions will escalate if the Zionist regime continues its aggression and crimes, saying that the US is provoking the regime into committing these crimes.

They had promised to end the war in return for Iran’s restraint, but they reneged on their promise, Pezeshkian said.

The president meanwhile called on officials to identify and punish the perpetrators behind a Saturday terrorist attack that left 10 Iranian law enforcement personnel martyred in the city of Taftan, in Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province.

He also offered his condolences over their martyrdom.