Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that its missiles cannot reach the United States as he defended strikes that have hit Gulf neighbours during the war in the Middle East, AFP reports.

“It is Americans who started this war against us, attacking us, and we are defending ourselves. So it is obvious that our missiles cannot reach the US soil,” Araghchi told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’.

“What we can do is to attack American bases and American installations around us, which are unfortunately in the soil of our, you know, neighbouring countries.”