Trump betrayed not only Iran, but his own voters as well: Araghchi

ISTANBUL: The United States and Israel crossed a major red line in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Sunday, saying he was heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Araghchi arrived in Moscow later on Sunday for talks after the US attack on key nuclear facilities, Iran’s state media reported.“They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran’s) nuclear facilities,” Araghchi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

He was speaking just hours after President Donald Trump said US warplanes struck three Iranian nuclear sites, nine days into an Israeli bombing campaign targeting its nuclear facilities.

“The most dangerous one happened only last night,” Araghchi said, while acknowledging he did not know the full extent of the damage done in the strikes, including one at the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.

“I still do not have exact information about the level of damages, but I don’t think it matters... Last night’s attack was a grave crime,” he said.“Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security,” he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself “by all means necessary against... US military aggression”.

Araghchi said he would head to Moscow on Sunday and hold talks with Putin on Monday morning. “I’m going to Moscow this afternoon” to hold “serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow”, he said.

After the strikes, Trump said Iran “must now agree to end this war”. But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations was “irrelevant”. “The world must not forget that it was the United States which—in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome—betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime’s launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” he said.

“So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked... They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force.”—AFP

News Desk adds: Araghchi also accused Trump of betraying not only Iran, but his own supporters as well. He said Trump was elected on a platform of putting an end to “America’s costly involvement in ‘forever wars’”.

“He has betrayed not only Iran by abusing our commitment to diplomacy, but also deceived his own voters by submitting to the wishes of a wanted war criminal who has grown accustomed to exploiting the lives and wealth of American citizens to further the Israeli regime’s objectives,” said Araghchi, referring to Netanyahu.