TEHRAN, July 20 — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that his country is engaged in a “full-scale war” with the United States, stressing the importance of maintaining economic stability during wartime.
“Today’s war is not a war of merely missiles. The enemy has come to the conclusion that it cannot force the Iranian nation to surrender with military strikes,” Pezeshkian said at a meeting of the High Council of the Judiciary in Tehran, according to a statement published on the website of his office.
He said that the “enemy” has waged a “hybrid war” against Iran, describing the economy and the people’s livelihood as the most important areas of confrontation with the “enemy,” and highlighting the necessity to maintain economic stability and protect social assets as two priorities of “the system of governance during wartime.”
Pezeshkian added that his government “fully protected” Iran’s national rights and interests in negotiations with the United States, including in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 18.
The United States has launched multiple strikes on Iran’s southern provinces over the past week, saying they were aimed at “degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.”
Iran has responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. military bases and facilities in regional countries, including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
The escalation comes as the two sides, under their MoU, were scheduled to hold negotiations within a 60-day period to reach a final agreement. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
