Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei, in response to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s remarks calling the Iran war “unnecessary”, says the war cannot be “downplayed” as it was a “blatant act” of aggression against a sovereign state.

In a post on X, Baqaei said, “It is true that the current crisis with which our region and the world are confronted can be directly traced back to the unlawful and arbitrary withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA in May 2018.

“It is also true that this imposed war could and should have been avoided,” the spokesman wrote.

However, he went on to say that the United Nations Charter did not recognise the concept of a “necessary war”, allowing states to use force against another sovereign state based on “arbitrary decisions by aggressors”.

“The American-Israeli attack on Iran cannot be downplayed or reinterpreted as a mere ‘unnecessary war’,” he maintained, stressing that it was a “clear and flagrant violation of Article 2 Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter – a blatant act of aggression against a sovereign state”.

“Every nation that respects the rule of law and the UN Charter must unequivocally condemn this act of aggression and hold those responsible accountable,” he added.