Iran war live updates:<\/a> For the latest news on the Middle East crisis, read our blog.<\/p>\n Mr Baghaei told 7.30 that Iran will not distinguish between countries acting in an aggressive or defensive capacity.<\/p>\n “The government of Australia has decided to take side with the aggressors,” he told 7.30.<\/p>\n Esmaeil Baghaei is a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry and a deputy foreign minister.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We cannot recognise, we cannot distinguish between offensive and defensive operation.”<\/p>\n Asked if that meant Australian assets in the Persian Gulf were targets for Iran, he said they could be.<\/p>\n “We have the inherent right to self-defence against offensive or defensive operation against us,” Mr Baghaei said.<\/p>\n “We cannot recognise that those military assets are being deployed to intercept are missiles or drones against the aggressors would be regarded simply as defensive.<\/p>\n “That’s going to be part of this aggression.”<\/p>\n He then turned his attention to other actions undertaken by Australia, including the offer of asylum to members of Iran’s women’s football team after their appearance at the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n Tony Burke came under criticism for this photo. (ABC News: Supplied: Department of Home Affairs)<\/p>\n He claimed the players were taken “hostage” and it was yet another act by the Australian government that showed its support for the US and Israel.<\/p>\n Asked how he could say the players were taken hostage, Mr Baghaei said:<\/p>\n “When they first they were invited to go to a room under the pretext of clarifying the doping or something like that, then they put a paper beside them, ‘please sign these papers, you can be given asylum, you can be given all what you need’.”<\/p>\n He then accused Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke of posturing.<\/p>\n “Then the Australian minister posts for a photo of with them. This was a shameful sham posture,” he said.’Terrorist acts’<\/p>\n During the wide-ranging interview, Mr Baghaei also accused Israel and the US of committing “terrorist acts” when they assassinated former ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n “The United States and Israel have attacked against Iran,” Mr Baghaei said from Tehran.<\/p>\n “They are killing our leaders. They are killing our innocent girls and boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0“Let’s call a spade a spade, this is an illegal war imposed on Iran, imposed on the whole region and has consequences for the whole international community.\u00a0<\/p>\n A view of a building that was damaged by a strike in Tehran. (Reuters: Majid Asgaripour\/WANA)<\/p>\n “We understand that you are concerned about the groceries price, but we are concerned about the everyday lives of our citizens.<\/p>\n “They are being killed and maimed by the United States and Israel’s missiles and bombs.”<\/p>\n That war started when the United States launched strikes on Iran, claiming it posed an imminent nuclear threat.<\/p>\n Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have led the war against Iran. (AP: Alex Brandon\u00a0)<\/p>\n However, just last June, Mr Trump had claimed on Truth Social<\/a> that the US had done large-scale damage to Iran’s nuclear capabilities, causing questions about his motives for this war.<\/p>\n “Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Mr Trump said in June 2025.<\/p>\n “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The strikes that started this war killed Khamenei and several top Iranian officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mojtaba Khamenei is the new leader of the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n \u00a0 (Reuters: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader\/WANA)<\/p>\n “This is a nasty war,” Mr Baghaei said.<\/p>\n “This is not a conventional classical warfare between two armed forces; this is a combination of military aggression and terrorist acts.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I think we are moving towards a very dark era if the Western countries \u2026 have control over the know-how to kill \u2026 the leaders of another country, assassinating them through terrorist activities must be alarming to the whole international community.\u00a0“<\/p>\n Asked if Iran would retaliate, Mr Baghaei issued a veiled threat.<\/p>\n “Iranian armed forces are determined or willing and capable of defending our country, defending our sovereignty with all might,” he said.<\/p>\n “The leaders of any country are symbols of the sovereignty of that nation.”<\/p>\n Holding the world to ransom<\/p>\n A significant consequence of the war in Iran has been the slowing of global fuel supply through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Iran’s South Pars Gas field was struck in an attack. (FILE: Raheb Homavandi\/TIMA via Reuters)<\/p>\n The result has seen fuel prices across the world skyrocket<\/a> as Iran controls the Strait.<\/p>\n Asked if Iran was “trying to make the entire world suffer” to put pressure on America, Mr Baghaei said Iran was justified in its actions.<\/p>\n That was due not only to the deaths of people in his nation but also to the strikes on Iranian infrastructure, and that this was, in his view, a fair retaliatory action.<\/p>\n “They are using their military bases in the Persian Gulf countries to target Iranian institutions,” Mr Baghaei told 7.30.<\/p>\n “They exploded [a plant] using the territory of one of our neighbouring countries in the Persian Gulf.\u00a0<\/p>\n A boy stands near a house that was damaged by a strike in Tehran. (Reuters)<\/p>\n “If you are concerned about the groceries, the price of oil, we are concerned about the life of our citizens. One hundred and seventy-five innocent kids were killed during the first hours of the act on 28th February.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If the Western people are concerned about this war, they have to blame the United States and Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Did we start this war? No.”<\/p>\n Watch 7.30<\/a>, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview<\/a> and ABC TV<\/p>\n Contact 7.30<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9b31296851d9050ba445c621642c7f72.jpeg\")
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