After call with German chancellor, Iran president says Tehran has ‘right to respond’ to attacks

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country has “the right to respond” to any aggression, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged de-escalation, given soaring tensions with Israel.

“While emphasizing diplomatic solutions to issues, Iran will never give in to pressure, to sanctions and to bullying and considers it has the right to respond to aggressors in accordance with international norms,” Pezeshkian says, according to a statement published by official news agency IRNA following a phone call with Scholz.

German spokesman Wolfgang Buechner says Scholz “appealed to President Pezeshkian to do everything possible to prevent a further military escalation,” expressed “great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East” and said “the spiral of violence in the Middle East must be broken now.”

Iran has threatened a major reprisal attack for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, which it blames on Israel.