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.”

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.

• Ras Tanura refinery hit by drone, says source. 
• Major Israeli gas fields, including Leviathan, offline.
• Most output in Iraqi Kurdistan shut down as precaution.

Saudi Arabia shut its biggest domestic oil refinery on Monday after a drone strike, a source said, as Israeli and US strikes and Iranian retaliation forced shutdowns of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East.

A wave of attacks on the region stretched into a third day, resulting in the precautionary suspension of most oil production in Iraqi Kurdistan and at several major Israeli gas fields, throttling exports to Egypt.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco’s 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ras Tanura refinery, which was shut as a precautionary measure, is part of an energy complex on the kingdom’s Gulf coast which also serves as a critical export terminal for Saudi crude oil.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, which exported 200,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) via pipeline to Turkiye’s Ceyhan port in February, companies including DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Dana Gas and HKN Energy have stopped output at their fields as a precaution, with no damage reported.

Offshore Israel, the giant Chevron-operated Leviathan gas field was shut on Saturday, according to sources, while Energean shut down its production vessel serving smaller gas fields.

Drones intercepted in Saudi Arabia

The situation at Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery is under control, the source said. Two drones were intercepted at the facility, with debris causing a limited fire, the Saudi defence ministry’s spokesperson said on Al Arabiya TV, adding there were no injuries.

Aramco did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Some of the refinery’s units were shut as a precautionary measure but the supply of petroleum and its derivatives to local markets was not affected, Saudi state news agency SPA said, citing an unnamed official at the energy ministry.

Still, its shuttering will likely add to supply anxieties as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global oil consumption flows, grinds to a near-halt after vessels were attacked around it on Sunday. Brent crude futures LCOc1 surged roughly 10% on Monday to over $82 a barrel.

Attack seen as significant escalation

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.

“The attack is also likely to move Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf states closer to joining US and Israeli military operations against Iran.”

Saudi Arabia’s heavily fortified energy facilities have been targeted previously, most notably in September 2019 when drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais plants temporarily knocked out more than half of the kingdom’s crude production.

Ras Tanura was attacked by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in 2021.