Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman says confronting US-Israeli threats leaves the country no option but military retaliation, while stressing it has no issue with the American people.

In an interview with the US public radio (NPR) published on Sunday, Esmaeil Baghaei discussed the country’s positions on the current developments following the recent US-Israeli aggression.

“This is an unjust war imposed on our nation, and we have no other choice other than fighting against this injustice,” he said.

He emphasized that these military actions are unwarranted and unprovoked, and pointed out they arrived while the US and Iran were making progress in diplomatic negotiations over nuclear issues.

Baghaei stated that the conflict is the United States administration’s preferred war.

He noted that according to the Omani mediator’s remarks on Friday, a deal was close, and Iran was slated to meet the American delegation in Vienna the previous day to discuss technical details—emphasizing that Iran did not initiate the war.

He referred to the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, saying, “he was not only a political leader. He was also a high-ranking religious jurist with tens of millions of followers, even outside Iran, across the region.”

In response to a question on who is leading the country now, the Iranian diplomat explained that an interim council now governs Iran, composed of the head of the judiciary, the president, and a member of the council of experts, which will be responsible for electing a new leader.

Responding to a question about whether Iran’s leadership can withstand aggressive US sanctions, President Trump’s calls for regime change, Israeli pressure and domestic opposition, Baghaei said a foreign power cannot dictate changes to a nation’s system of governance.

He added that Iranians have historically united against foreign aggression and domination, fighting to protect their freedom, independence, dignity and sovereignty.

Reacting to the death of at least three Americans, Baghaei said “I have said many times that we have no problem with the American people. And we believe that this is not their war.”

Iranian Armed Forces have shot down an advanced US F-15 fighter jet near the border with Kuwait – the first downing of an American fighter jet in the past 27 years.

“An F-15 fighter jet [belonging] to the intruding US army which intended to attack the country has been targeted by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Air Defense and brought down,” Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Air Defense Base said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the jet’s debris has been crashed in Kuwaiti soil.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry on Monday confirmed the jet’s crash with its video footage widely being circulated in global media.

An American F-117 fighter jet was downed by former Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war some 27 years ago.

No American fighter jet has been officially destroyed since then despite significant progress made in airplane technology.

Iranian retaliatory attacks comes amid three days of aggression against the country, which has killed at least 555 people, including more than 145 children in a strike on an elementary school in Hormozgan Province in addition to Iranian officials, according to the Red Crescent Society.

The IRGC and the Army have targeted strategic sites in the Israeli-occupied territories as well as US-operated bases across West Asia, including the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, along with key installations in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their role in supporting aggression against Iran.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani says the Islamic Republic will hold no negotiations with the United States after Washington and Tel Aviv waged war against the country.

Larijani made the remark in a post on his X account on Monday in response to a report by The Wall Street Journal claiming that he had started new efforts to resume talks with the US.

The US and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on Saturday, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country.

The Saturday attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The Iranian administration on Sunday declared 40 days of public mourning and seven days of holidays following the Leader’s martyrdom.

The aggression was launched as Tehran and Washington had held three rounds of indirect negotiations in the Omani capital of Muscat and the Swiss city of Geneva and planned to open technical talks in Vienna, Austria, last Monday.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.

On the second day of the joint aggression, US President Donald Trump claimed that Iranian authorities wanted to hold talks with Washington.

In another post on X, Larijani said the US president had caused turmoil in the region as a result of his “pipe dreams” and is now concerned about more losses on the American servicemen.

The top Iranian security official added that Trump changed the self-made slogan of “America First” to “Israel First” through his illusion-driven performance and sacrificed the American soldiers for the sake of Israel’s ambitions.

Larijani emphasized that the American soldiers and their families are bearing the brunt of Trump’s lie mongering and his ill nature.

“Today, the Iranian nation is defending itself. Iran’s Armed Forces have not launched any aggression,” the SNSC secretary pointed out, emphasizing it was not Iran that initiated the war.

Iran has reaffirmed its policy to promote peace in the region but pledged that it will not hesitate to defend its territorial integrity against any act of aggression.

Iranian officials have also already called on the country’s neighbors not to allow their soil to be used by the US and Israel for any attack against the Islamic Republic, warning to retaliate.