‘Break with Israel or Remain Trapped’: Iran Defense Ministry Spokesman Tells US
May, 07, 2026 - 11:40
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian defense ministry spokesman said the United States should break its alliance with Israel and acknowledge Iran’s sovereign rights as the only way to get out of the quagmire of its own making.
“The American-Zionist enemy must accept the rights of the Iranian nation, and especially the US enemy must distance itself from the evil Zionist regime, and this will pave the way for the end of the war,” Brigadier General Reza Talaei Nik told reporters on Wednesday.
He warned that the US cannot get out of the "quagmire it is stuck in" if it refrains from accepting the rights of the Iranian nation, and if it refuses to distance itself from the “evil and criminal” Israeli regime, adding it should accept the realities of the battlefield.
He added that the Iranian nation constitutes the “strategic depth of Iran’s defense power.”
The United States and Israel launched their unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28. They assassinated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and struck nuclear facilities, schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure.
Iran’s Armed Forces responded with 100 waves of retaliatory strikes under Operation True Promise 4, launching hundreds of ballistic and hypersonic missiles, as well as drones, against American military bases across West Asia and Israeli positions throughout the occupied territories.
In a move sending shockwaves throughout the global energy markets, the Islamic Republic shut the Strait of Hormuz to enemies and their allies and then deployed far stricter controls over the waterway after Washington sustained an illegal naval blockade it had imposed on the country.
Iran then ruled out returning to the negotiation table unless the blockade was lifted.
Tehran says it is still reviewing Washington’s latest proposal for a potential agreement to end the war, with no official response yet delivered.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said on Wednesday that genuine negotiation requires good faith, not dictation or extortion.
https://www.tasnimnews.ir/en/news/2026/05/07/3584910/break-with-israel-or-remain-trapped-iran-defense-ministry-spokesman-tells-us
