US wants to partition country, take oil: Iranian foreign ministry
Baghaei also said the ongoing conflict was “not a war of choice but of necessity”, insisting that Iran did not initiate the war.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has accused the United States of seeking to partition Iran and take control of its oil resources, reports Al Jazeera.
Speaking at a press briefing in Tehran, Baghaei said Washington's intentions were clear.
"Their design is clear, their enterprise is quite obvious – they aim at partitioning our country to take illegal possession of our oil riches," he said.
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"Their objective is to violate our sovereignty, defeat our people and undermine our humanity," he added.
Baghaei also said the ongoing conflict was "not a war of choice but of necessity", insisting that Iran did not initiate the war.
He said discussions about possible mediation efforts for a ceasefire were currently "irrelevant" as long as military confrontations continued.
"As we speak, military confrontations are still under way," Baghaei said. "At this particular point, speaking of any matter other than defending our homeland is irrelevant."
Baghaei further said the US had "torpedoed" diplomatic talks that were under way before its latest attacks on Iran and warned that US-Israeli air strikes had put international law at risk.
