If Israel retaliates, our response will be harsher: Iranian president

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that Iran wants peace but will respond harshly if Israel retaliates for a missile attack by Tehran.

"If Israel strikes back, our response will be even harsher," Pezeshkian said at a news conference in Doha, where he went to attend the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Summit. "We are absolutely against bloodshed. We have always said: we want peace, we want calm. We do not want blood to be spilled in any country. But Israel is pushing us to this."

Pezeshkian highlighted Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, saying it forced Iran to respond.

"No country or party can accept this. No region can thrive or prosper under the shadow of war," he said. "I appeal to the West: Please pull Israel back, you placed Israel at the heart of this region. You also share responsibility in the bloodshed."

DEEPENING COOPERATION WITH QATAR

Pezeshkian expressed a commitment to working with Qatar to promote regional peace and stability. "We are doing everything we can to strengthen and deepen our relations with Qatar," he said.

He described the talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as highly constructive, aimed at regional peace and mutual interests, and announced that Iran and Qatar would enhance cooperation in trade, energy and security.

Al Thani also addressed regional tensions.

"We see that escalating tensions will have dire consequences for everyone. De-escalating this tension is our top priority," he said, standing alongside Pezeshkian.

"We are in agreement on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Any other solutions will result in failure," he added.

Pezeshkian arrived in Doha earlier in the day for a two-day visit, his first since assuming office in June.

The Iranian president's visit comes hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, with Tel Aviv estimating 180 rockets.

The attack caused casualties, property damage and led to the closure of Israel's airspace, with millions of Israelis rushing to shelters.

Iran claimed the strikes were in retaliation for Israel's assassination of Haniyeh and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, as well as Tel Aviv's massacres in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Israel has launched massive airstrikes since Sept. 23 against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon that have killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,950, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The Lebanese resistance group and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,700 victims, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, last October.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.