Iran’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the heads of German and Austrian embassies to Tehran to protest the two countries’ reaction to Tehran's retaliatory missile attack on the Israeli-occupied territories.
Germany's ambassador to Tehran Markus Potzel and Austrian envoy Wolfgang Dietrich Heim were separately called in by the ministry on Thursday in protest at their respective countries’ “unacceptable measures” in summoning Iranian envoys over Operation True Promise II.
Director General of the Western Europe Department at the Iranian Ministry of Affairs Majid Nili Ahmadabadi stated during the meetings that the Islamic Republic is utterly determined to defend its own security.
He emphasized that the Iranian Armed Forces’ act is in line with the principle of legitimate defense, stipulated in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, comes after two months of self-restraint and has been carried out to help the establishment of sustainable security in the region.
Nili Ahmadabadi also denounced the supportive positions of some European countries for the Zionist regime.
“We believe that if the European parties had taken effective and practical measures, including severance of financial and military support, they would have stopped the killing machine and genocide of the Israeli regime in time, and we would not have witnessed such tragedies nowadays,” he said.
The German and Austrian ambassadors, for their parts, said they would convey Iran's protest to their respective countries.
On Tuesday night, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched hundreds of missiles at targets in the Tel Aviv area.
The IRGC said it targeted “the heart of the occupied territories” in response to the Israeli assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC general Abbas Nilforoushan.
The IRGC said the operation was in line with the country’s right to legitimate self-defense as per the United Nations Charter, and in response to the regime's escalating crimes — backed by the United States — against the people of Lebanon and Gaza.
A number of air and radar bases, as well as centers for conspiracy and assassination planning against resistance leaders and IRGC commanders were targeted in the operation, according to the force.