President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that Iran intends to keep up its resistance until those responsible for attacking the country come to regret it and its rights are restored, striking a firmer tone than Tehran had used during the recent lull in fighting.
Posting on social media, Pezeshkian maintained that Iran has never sought war and views regional stability as dependent on avoiding further escalation, but said the country would continue defending itself against what he called ongoing acts of aggression.
The comments follow roughly a week of sharply renewed hostilities after a month-long pause in the six-month conflict between Iran and the United States, which began in late February. Since strikes resumed, the two sides have traded blows at an accelerating pace — American forces have hit Iranian oil tankers, Iran has fired on U.S. Navy ships, and a U.S. strike on the coastal town of Kuhestak killed guests at a wedding, an incident Iranian officials have labeled a war crime.
President Trump has continued to warn that any further Iranian response would draw a much larger American retaliation, arguing that Iran’s military command structure and economy have already been badly damaged by the fighting.
One note of context worth flagging: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed earlier in the conflict, in March — a loss Tehran has repeatedly cited in justifying its continued retaliatory strikes. It isn’t clear from Tuesday’s remarks whether Pezeshkian was referring back to that episode or specifically to the latest exchange of fire.
