Iran warns European countries will be ‘legitimate targets’ if they join conflict

An Iranian official warned that any European countries that enter the conflict against Iran will become ‘legitimate targets’ for Tehran’s retaliation. 

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi made the remark to France24 as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday apologized to neighboring countries that have been attacked by the regime. 

‘We have already informed the Europeans and everybody else that they should be careful not to be involved in this war of aggression against Iran,’ Takht-Ravanchi told the network. ‘If they help, I’m not trying to name any country, but if any country joins in the aggression against Iran, joins America and Israel in the aggression against Iran, definitely they will be also the legitimate targets for Iranian retaliation.’ 

‘This war has imposed on us, and we will continue to defend ourselves to the best of our abilities,’ he added. ‘We have an obligation to defend our people and that is what exactly we are doing.’

Takht-Ravanchi also claimed Iran was ‘negotiating in good faith‘ in talks with the U.S. about its nuclear program, before America launched Operation Epic Fury and Israel began Operation Roaring Lion on Feb. 28. 

‘We are sincere. We are sincere in our endeavor to arrive at a peaceful conclusion of this issue,’ he told France24. 

Pezeshkian said Saturday that any future attacks coming out of Iran would only be in response to attacks against the country. 

‘I should apologize to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,’ he said, according to The Associated Press. ‘From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.’

Pezeshkian made the apology during a prerecorded televised speech on Saturday after Iran launched repeated strikes on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. 

Despite the vow, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that the country’s air defense systems intercepted 16 ballistic missiles, 15 of which were destroyed while one fell into the sea.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.