Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent
Lucy Clarke-Billings
BBC News
The US joining Israeli strikes would cause “hell for the whole region”, Iran’s deputy foreign minister has told the BBC.
Saeed Khatibzadeh said this is “not America’s war” and if US President Donald Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as “a president who entered a war he doesn’t belong in”.
He said US involvement would turn the conflict into a “quagmire”, continue aggression and delay an end to the “brutal atrocities”.
His comments came after the Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack. Iranian state media reported that the strike targeted a military site next to the hospital, and not the facility itself.
Israel’s Ministry of Health said 71 people were injured during the attack on the Soroka Medical Centre.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it had targeted Iran’s nuclear sites including the “inactive” Arak heavy water reactor and Natanz facility.
Tehran has not given an update on casualties in Iran from Israeli strikes.
The latest attacks come at a critical time. On Thursday, the White House said Trump would decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the conflict within the next two weeks.
Speaking to the BBC, Khatibzadeh insisted that “of course, diplomacy is the first option”, but said but while bombardment continues “we cannot start any negotiation”.
He repeatedly called Iran’s attacks on Israel “self defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter” and said “we were in the middle of diplomacy” when in a major escalation of the conflict on 13 June, Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, killing several top generals and nuclear scientists.
The deputy foreign minister called the conflict “unprovoked” and “unnecessary”.
Responding to Trump’s repeated comments that the conflict could have been avoided if Iran had accepted a nuclear deal, Khatibzadeh said they were negotiating until Israel “sabotaged” discussions by launching attacks Iran.
“We were planning to have the sixth round of nuclear talks in Muscat, and we were actually on the verge of reaching an agreement,” he said.
“President Trump knows better than anybody else that we were on the verge of reaching an agreement.”
He also criticised Trump’s “confusing and contradictory” social media posts and interviews, which he said indicated “that Americans have been aware and have participated” in the conflict.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have reportedly spoken on the phone several times since Friday, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, Reuters reported.
According to three diplomats who spoke to the news agency and asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, Araqchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks.
Israel has alleged Iran has recently “taken steps to weaponise” its enriched uranium stockpile, which can be used for power plants or nuclear bombs. Iran has always claimed that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the UN’s nuclear watchdog – said Iran had amassed enough uranium enriched up to 60% purity – a short technical step away from weapons grade, or 90% – to potentially make nuclear bombs.
“This is nonsense,” Khatibzadeh said in response. “You cannot start a war based on speculation or intention.
“If we wanted to have a nuclear bomb, we would have had it way before.
“Iran has never developed any programme for nuclear weaponisation of peaceful nuclear activities. Bottom line.”
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that nuclear facilities “must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment”.
Khatibzadeh also discussed potential diplomatic channels after a G7 summit in Canada.
He said: “What we are hearing from Europeans is that they would like to get back to diplomacy at a ministerial level”.
“They are going to have a meeting in Geneva and we are very much happy that finally they have to come and talk at the table about the issues at hand.”
