May 19: Iran reaffirms defense readiness as officials warn against fresh US-Israeli aggression

By Press TV Website Staff

On Tuesday, firm positions were reiterated by senior officials, as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticised contradictory US behaviour and Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi reaffirmed the nation’s readiness to confront any aggression.

Military officials, including Major General Ali Abdollahi and Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia, warned that any new attack would see powerful new fronts opening.

The day also saw continued ceasefire violations by Israeli occupation forces in Lebanon and new disclosures in the US on the heavy losses suffered during the failed 40-day war of aggression against the Islamic Republic.

Key developments on day 81 of the war, the forty-one day of the ceasefire:

• Foreign Minister Araghchi said the United States' "contradictory and excessive stances" are a serious obstacle to the fruition of diplomatic processes.
• Deputy FM for Legal and International Affairs, Gharibabadi, rejected any notion of surrender, saying the Islamic Republic is united and decisively ready to confront any military aggression.
• Major General Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, said that any new act of aggression by the United States or its allies will be met with overwhelming force, as the Islamic Republic stands stronger and more determined than ever to defend its sovereignty.
• Brigadier General Akraminia, the spokesman for the Army, warned that if the enemy falls into Israel’s trap again and launches another aggression against Iran, the Armed Forces will open new fronts using new tools and methods.
• Ebrahim Azizi, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, underscored the strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz, describing the waterway as the Islamic Republic's permanent asset that would remain under the control and management of the Iranian nation.
• Azizi dismissed US President Donald Trump’s renewed military threats against Iran, saying the only way he can be dealt with is through strength and power.
• Mohsen Rezaei, senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, stated that the iron fist of Iran’s powerful armed forces and the resolute Iranian nation will eventually compel the US to retreat and surrender.
• Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly rejected “baseless and selective accusations” levelled by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz against the Islamic Republic regarding a mysterious failed explosion incident near a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
• Iranian intelligence forces successfully dismantled four Takfiri militant cells affiliated with the Israeli regime in the country’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan.
• Iranian security forces managed to identify and arrest two individuals who were spying in favour of foreign intelligence services under the guise of being journalists.
• A newly-released Congressional report said the American military lost at least 42 aircraft during 40 days of the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, with estimated costs already reaching billions of dollars.
• Israeli media reported that Hezbollah’s increasingly advanced drone operations have paralysed up to 80 percent of the Israeli military’s planned assaults in southern Lebanon.
• Israeli forces dropped phosphorus shells on farms in southern Lebanon, kidnapping civilians in a fresh violation of the recent ceasefire agreement, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
• A series of new Israeli attacks killed at least five civilians and wounded several others in Lebanon amid continued violations of a ceasefire agreement by the Tel Aviv regime’s forces.
• The Kata’ib Hezbollah resistance movement warned the Amman government against ongoing reconnaissance missions launched by the United States and Israel from Jordanian soil against Iraqi resistance fighters, particularly the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU).
• Russia’s state-run nuclear company Rosatom planned to return its staff to the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran in the coming weeks.
• Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that a resumption of the US‑Israeli war on Iran is unlikely, given the widespread global opposition and lack of public support in the United States for another war in West Asia.
• Independent Senator Bernie Sanders called on Congress to stop drawing more “blank checks” for “war criminals” like Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a new poll says nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose more economic and military support for the occupying entity.

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