Iranian ambassador says Iran 'not at war' with UK as he blames US and Israel as the 'root causes of this crisis'
The Iranian Ambassador has said his country is "not at war" with the UK.
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Seyed Ali Mousavi told Tonight with Andrew Marr that Iran is a "peace-loving country" with "no hostility to the British people".
He told LBC that the "root causes" of the conflict are the USA and Israel and said that he views the UK's position as 'different' to the US in the war.
But the Ambassador warned that if the UK were to attack Iran in future: "We will defend ourselves, we will defend our territorial integrity and the Iranian national sovereignty."
Mr Mousavi branded claims that drone strikes launched at the UK's RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus last week were anything to do with Iran was a 'false flag'.
The MoD is still investigating the incident - and earlier this week said it was not launched from Iran, amid claims it could have been launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon.
Marr then probed Mr Mousavi on the position of Persian Gulf states such as Qatar and UAE in this conflict, particularly as many of them have US military bases.
He replied: “If they want to abuse these bases, properties and assets against Iran we consider them as legitimate targets and will act accordingly.”
Mr Mousavi also said he was 'very sorry' about the war causing massive spikes in oil prices of more than $100 a barrel, and said people should call for the US and Israel to stop the war because they are damaging the prosperity and economic happiness of all of the world."
When asked what British people living in Gulf states should do in response to the situation, he replied: "First of all, I'm very sorry regarding for this crisis made by this war made by the American and Israeli regimes against all of the peoples living in the region, including the British.
"And so I am very sorry….my advice, the British government has a different facilities regarding for the repatriation of them back to the UK.
"But I do believe that there is no intention from the Iranian side to harm them.
"We know the exact location of the military bases, the properties of American side in them, in these countries, and if they want to come back to their own country it is up them.
"I'm telling you, and I'm assuring you, that there is no any hostility from Iranian side, not only for the British people who are living there, but also for all of the civilian people living in the Persian Gulf countries."
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When probed on whether Iran believes the position of the UK and the USA are similar in the conflict, Mr Mousavi said they are different. He added the UK government don't want to repeat the mistakes of Iraq.
"The British government, British authorities, declared that they have not any involvement in this war, and they know that this war is illegal according to the international law.
He added the British government mentioned they "do not repeat the bad experience from the Iraq invasion."
Mr Mousavi added that there is "no doubt" Iran would defend itself.
"Regarding for our strategy if they attacked us, if they want to making some threats against the Iranian national territory by using and abusing in the name of the collective self defence, or individual self defence, there is no doubt that we will defend ourselves. We will defend ourselves as our inherent right to self defence."
Mr Mousavi, when probed about recent violent protests in the country, denied that protesters had been hung, saying this was 'misinformation,' but admitted there had been violence against protestors.
On the protests, he said: "There have been many chances for peaceful protest -but with foreign interference, this shifted to riots and very bloody gatherings."
Mr Mousavi claimed the new Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei will be an "effective leader" after being selected by Iran's Assembly of Experts following his father's killing in US-Israeli strikes last week.
He explained: "I do believe, according to his studies and his experience and working with his late father, he will be one of the effective leaders of the country."
He also claimed that the new Supreme Leader may change how the country is run to adapt to a 'dynamic' Iranian society, saying: "The late Supreme Leader he has a very important and huge endeavours to preserving the Iranian territorial integrity. And I do believe there is a one continuity into keeping of this kind of principles, Iranian sovereignty, Iranian territorial integrity, Iranian dignity.
"But there is, according to the Shia jurisprudence, every jurisprudent has their own deduction, has their own analysis regarding how to address the different issues, different matters in the society, inside of Iran and international community outside of Iran. I do believe there is...continuity while changing, while to adopting also with the new issues.’
