Iran’s ambassador to Australia, Ahmad Sadeghi, has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to condemn Israel’s strikes on the Middle Eastern nation and denied that the Islamic Republic is working on a nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n
Mr Sadeghi made the comments to 7.30 during a wide-ranging interview where he also refused to recognise Israel’s right to exist as a state and warned US President Donald Trump there may be consequences for 80,000 US troops stationed in the Persian Gulf if the US strikes Iranian targets.<\/p>\n
Mr Sadeghi described Israel’s June 13 attack on Iranian targets \u2014 that has seen a reported 224 people there killed \u2014 as “unprovoked”.<\/p>\n
Since then, there have been a reported 24 casualties in Israel as a result of Iranian retaliatory strikes, with civilians dying on both sides.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smoke rises after a reported Israeli strike on a building used by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, on June 16.<\/p>\n
Mr Sadeghi defended the Iranian response as “its inalienable right to just defensive measures”, before he called on Mr Albanese to condemn Israel for the June 13 attack that has pushed the Middle East to the brink of a wider conflict.<\/p>\n
“You have to have the punishment of the aggressor,” Mr Sadeghi told 7.30.<\/p>\n
“If you let it go unpunished [and] the prime minister of this regime [Benjamin Netanyahu] declared publicly and arrogantly that ‘I ordered such an attack against Iran’.<\/p>\n
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now fighting wars on multiple fronts. (AP: Ronen Zvulun)<\/p>\n
“If you just let them go free, it has very bad consequences.”<\/p>\n
Asked by 7.30 host David Speers if that meant “condemnation,” Mr Sadeghi responded “exactly”.<\/p>\n