• Tehran has no option other than striking where US attacks originate from, says Khatibzadeh

NEW DELHI

A senior Iranian diplomat on Friday cautioned against "cherry picking" international law amid the conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran.

The comments by Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh in New Delhi come after the US and Israel carried out a large-scale attack on Iran on Saturday, reportedly resulting in over 900 casualties, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dozens of schoolgirls, and senior military officials.

Iran has responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries, which host US military assets in the region.

“What is important is that everybody is supporting international law, and we hope that we are not cherry-picking international law. Now international law is under attack, as well as Iran,” Khatibzadeh told reporters after attending the Raisina Dialogue multilateral conference.

Noting that “the principles of international law have been attacked,” Khatibzadeh added, “we have to stand together against these atrocities.”

“Americans, they have assassinated the head of another state. If it is the new norm, then nobody, no country on earth can actually have diplomatic normal relations with other countries,” he said.

He emphasized that Iran was “resisting.”

He said this was "a resistance for history, for the region, for the world, for international law, for the principles of international law, for ethics, for morality. And we are going to resist.”

Commenting on the US submarine attack on the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean early Wednesday, Khatibzadeh said, “This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident." Noting that it had not been loaded, nor was it armed, Khatibzadeh said the only precedent to this sort of attack was seen during the Nazi era, "when they attacked unarmed vessels and armed ships away from combat zones.”

At least 87 sailors have been confirmed dead in the attack, with 32 wounded and many more missing, according to officials in Sri Lanka, which responded to the IRIS Dena's distress call.

Addressing the conference, Khatibzadeh described the conflict with the US and Israel as an “existential war on Iran.”

“They would like to put an end to the existence of Iran. We are fighting a heroic, nationalistic war to push back these aggressors,” he said. "We have no option but to hit wherever the Americans are originating their attack from."

He underlined that Iran is "merely attacking US bases" in the region.

"Why is there not even one of our Arab friends, our neighbors, a casualty in our attacks? Because, we are just merely attacking US bases, US assets and also those sheltered in different residential areas... Two of those American soldiers have been killed by us. They are doing operations from one of the residential areas," Khatibzadeh said.