GLR
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the United States, Israel and several European powers of waging what he described as a “full-fledged war” against Iran, saying the campaign is broader, more complex and more damaging than previous military conflicts the country has faced.
Speaking on Saturday in an interview published on the official website of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Pezeshkian said Iran is under coordinated pressure from Washington, Tel Aviv and Europe aimed at weakening the country and preventing it from achieving stability and self-reliance.
“In my opinion, we are in a full-fledged war with America, Israel and Europe. They do not want our country to stand on its feet,” Pezeshkian said.
His remarks come ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting on Monday with US President Donald Trump, and amid heightened regional tensions following months of military escalation and renewed international sanctions on Tehran.
Pezeshkian’s comments also come six months after Israel and the United States carried out strikes on Iranian targets, and after France, Germany and the United Kingdom reimposed United Nations sanctions on Iran in September over concerns related to its nuclear programme.
The Iranian president said the country’s armed forces are now better prepared than they were during the earlier attacks, despite ongoing economic and logistical challenges.
“Our dear military forces are doing their jobs with strength, and now, in terms of equipment and manpower, despite all the problems we have, they are stronger than when they attacked,” he said, referring to Israeli and US strikes.
He warned that any new military action against Iran would be met with a more forceful response. “If they want to attack, they will naturally face a more decisive response,” Pezeshkian said, adding that the current confrontation differs significantly from previous wars involving Iran.
“This war is worse than Iraq’s war against us,” he said. “If one understands it well, this war is far more complex and difficult than that war,” he added, referring to the 1980–1988 conflict between Iran and Iraq that resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties.
The United States and its allies have long accused Iran of attempting to develop nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran has repeatedly denied, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
Tensions between Israel and Iran escalated sharply in June, when the two countries engaged in a 12-day conflict triggered by an unprecedented Israeli assault on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, as well as civilian areas. Iranian authorities said the strikes resulted in more than 1,000 casualties.
The United States later joined the campaign, bombing three Iranian nuclear sites, a move that further escalated the conflict and led to the suspension of negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme. Those talks had begun in April but were halted following the US intervention.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has reinstated his so-called “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran, first introduced during his initial term. The strategy includes sweeping sanctions intended to severely damage Iran’s economy and cut off its oil revenues from international markets.
According to recent reports, Netanyahu is expected to press Trump for additional military action when the two meet at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this weekend, with a particular focus on Iran’s missile programme.
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