Welcome Indian cooperation to oust foreign troops: Iran
New Delhi: Hours, after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two military bases housing American and coalition troops in Iraq, the Iranian envoy to India Ali Chegini, said that defence is the right of any country.
"This is not revenge but the right of my people. All our people wanted retaliation and we did it exactly at a time when our hero ( Qassem Soleimani ) was attacked. However, we did not do it like them, we attacked the military base," Chegini said.
Iran on Wednesday attacked two US bases in Iraq in retaliation to the assassination of its top military commander General Qassem Soleimani.
"The fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun," Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement. He said that Iran "retaliated not from behind, but from the front" against the killing of its top commander in an airstrike by the US last week.
"Iranian philosophy of life doesn't allow it to attack anyone or even attack but Iran is a good defender and defence is the right of not just humans but even animals," Chegini said.
Chengini said that the West Asia region is already bearing severe pressure and tension resulting from unjustifiable military occupation and the presence of foreign troops, in particular, those forces of the US in the region.
"Therefore, any measure like the HOPE initiative promoted by I R Iran or any other initiative by other regional countries like India which could facilitate and boost peace, dialogue, and cooperation among the countries of this region and push for a responsible departure of the foreign troops and closure of their military bases around the Persian Gulf and the neighboring countries would certainly be welcomed," Iranian Ambassador to India Ali Chegini told Millennium Post after a condolence meeting for Solemani at the country's embassy.
"Since India is also our friendly neighbour, we can together work on observing and sharing of information to establish peace and remove tension in the region," he said.
The Iranian envoy also said that the country has also officially informed the UN Security Council after it launched missiles on American military bases in Iraq to 'defend its rights'.
The escalation in tension between the US and Iran affected the global stock market badly. Oil prices, on the other hand, shot up.
On the Ukraine plane crash, Iranian envoy said that it is a sad incident and anything could be said only after the technical findings. The condolence meeting held at the Iranian embassy was also attended by many ambassadors of various countries. Indian war veteran Major Chandrakant Singh who was awarded Vir Chakra, third-highest gallantry award for his role in 1971 war also paid a visit to the embassy to express condolences on Qassem Soleimani assassination.
"It was an illegal killing. This should never have happened. Soleimani helped in crushing ISIS. The results of his assassination would not be good for the region. This is as much as loss for India as it is for Iran," Major Chandrakant told millennium Post.
