Iran ‘Fully Prepared’ If Israel Breaks ‘Fragile’ Ceasefire

Araghchi made the remarks in a Wednesday interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Tianjin, China, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting on Tuesday.

He pointed out that the 12-day war launched by the Israeli regime against Iran was unprovoked military aggression and not simply a "conflict."

"It is not a conflict. It is an act of aggression, unprovoked aggression by Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.

“We had no way but to exercise our right of self-defense. So, we defended our country. We defended it in a very courageous way and forced the aggressors to stop the aggression and ask for an unconditional ceasefire, which was accepted by us," the top Iranian diplomat emphasized.

He cast doubt on Israel's intention to truly honor the ceasefire, which he characterized as “fragile”.

"The ceasefire is, of course, fragile and the reason is obvious: no ceasefire by the (Israeli) regime is reliable because the regime has a very bad record on that,” he explained.

“We are very careful and fully prepared if the ceasefire is broken, but this is not our wish. That was not our wish from the beginning. We did not want this war, but we were ready for that,” he stressed.

The foreign minister said Iran does not wish for the war to continue, but reaffirmed the country’s full readiness should aggression resume.