Pezeshkian urges diplomacy, vows defense
Iran reports new strikes under Operation True Promise 4
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will defend its territorial integrity while expressing a preference for resolving disputes by diplomacy and urging neighbouring states not to act as “pawns” of imperial powers. In a televised address he reiterated that Iran has no intention of attacking neighbours unless struck from their territory, and said the Leadership Council’s recent decisions have been communicated to the armed forces. Pezeshkian called for dialogue over confrontation, denounced support for Israel and the United States as destructive to national dignity, and praised public demonstrations backing the revolution.
Also Pezeshkian in a phone call told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that recent regional developments show what he described as US and Israeli aggression, condemning what he called the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and framing subsequent Iranian strikes as retaliation. He urged Russia to use its influence to back Iran’s claims.
Meanwhile state-linked media and military spokesmen reported a string of coordinated operations under the banner of Operation True Promise 4. The IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters claimed precision strikes on Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE that damaged radar, maintenance hangars for MQ-9 Reapers and U-2 aircraft, and a Patriot missile system. Separate cruise and ballistic missile strikes were reported against Ali Salem Air Base, striking early-warning radars, fuel tanks and runways. Attacks on Al Udeid Air Base were said to have destroyed radar, air-traffic control and satellite communications facilities and fuel supplies; Iranian statements asserted US casualties at Erbil Airport.
Iranian forces also reported missile strikes on occupied territories and the destruction of a separatist headquarters in the Kurdistan Region. The IRGC announced further waves of combined drone and ballistic missile attacks and said naval and ground units struck troop concentrations and bases in the region, naming operations with religious epithets and invoking the memory of martyrs as justification for continued action.
