EMILY KWONG, HOST:
The Iranian government is responding to the U.S. and Israel with strikes of their own and says they intend to keep fighting.
ESMAIL BAGHAEI: This is an unjust war imposed on our nation, and we have no other choice other than fighting against this injustice.
KWONG: Esmail Baghaei is spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry. He says these military actions are unwarranted and unprovoked, and pointed out they arrived while the U.S. and Iran were making progress in diplomatic negotiations over nuclear issues. We reached him earlier today in Tehran. That's where he was on Saturday morning when attacks began.
BAGHAEI: I was in my workplace, and you see, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the south of the capital, quite close to the supreme leader's compound, where came under attacks by more than 28 missiles. And the compound is now levelled to earth. Many people lost their lives, including our supreme leader, and he was assassinated. He was not only a political leader. He was also a high-ranking religious jurist with tens of millions of followers, even outside Iran, across the region.
KWONG: Who is leading the country now?
BAGHAEI: Right now, in accordance with our constitution, we have an interim council consisting of the head of the judiciary, the president and one representative from the council of experts. The council of experts should elect the new supreme leader. We hope that that would be done within the next few days. I hope.
KWONG: Iran saw widespread protests earlier this year, and the government killed thousands of its own citizens. Do those in leadership now have the support of the Iranian people?
BAGHAEI: Every society has such protests. These protests started peacefully. We respect peaceful assemblies. The first 10 days of these peaceful protests were calm. But from 8 to 10 January, the situation changed dramatically when gunmen appeared within the peaceful protest, and they started shooting both protesters and the policemen. More than 200 police officers and security people were killed. Some of them were beheaded and burned alive. Three thousand one hundred-seventy people were killed, and we called more than 2,400 of them as martyrs.
KWONG: Yes. I mean, there are estimates that the death toll is significantly higher, I mean, tens of thousands of people.
BAGHAEI: It is not. I'm telling you - it is not really. It is part of the disinformation campaign because if you remember, I mean, during the first days of these protests...
KWONG: And...
BAGHAEI: ...There was a message by the president of the United States saying that if the number of killings rises, then I would come and help people. That was the motivation, the...
KWONG: The...
BAGHAEI: ...Reason why some gunmen started killing the protesters...
KWONG: The calls...
BAGHAEI: ...In order, simply to make the number higher.
KWONG: Yes. We don't - the calls in the streets, though, were for a regime change, and now you have President Trump calling for a regime...
BAGHAEI: It was not.
KWONG: ...Change.
BAGHAEI: It was not. It was not. It was out of economic hardship. The main part of these economic problems is coming from the United States sanctions. We have been under these cruel sanctions for the past five years.
KWONG: The sanctions have been very aggressive from the United States, sure. But I want to know, do you believe the Iranian leadership can hold with the combination of President Trump calling for a regime change, and Israel, and some Iranians opposing the regime?
BAGHAEI: Can you accept in your country that a foreign country calling for the change in your system of governance? And by the way, the Iranians have shown that when confronted with a foreign aggression, foreign domination, they will appear united, and they will fight for their freedom, for their independence and for their dignity and sovereignty.
KWONG: Let's talk about international law because you petitioned the United Nations that the U.S. and Israel strikes were in violation, and your response has been self-defense. So how do you hope the international community responds to what's happening to Iran?
BAGHAEI: We are one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. And the main principle of the United Nations is to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war. So this is our basic right to call for the U.N. Security Council to do its responsibility under Article 39 of the U.N. Charter because what the United States and Israel are doing is a clear act of aggression against Iran. We understand that at international level, unfortunately, the real politics works. But we do hope - and I think this is our legitimate expectation - to see the help of the United Nations system because otherwise, you cannot talk about collective security. You cannot talk about international law. You cannot talk about normative system.
The first missiles that they shot at Iran hit at an elementary school in Minab City, which is located in south of Iran. So far, more than 158 innocent little girls have been killed. Some of them are still under the rubble. Today they hit hospitals in the center of Tehran. This is unprovoked, unwarranted act of aggression.
KWONG: That has to be incredibly difficult to endure. The violence is growing. We just learned that at least three Americans have been killed in these hostilities. What is your reaction to that news?
BAGHAEI: I have said many times that we have no problem with the American people. And we believe that this is not their war. This is the U.S. administration's war of choice. We were talking with Americans. We were in the middle of the negotiations, and if - I refer you to the words of the Omani mediator. On Friday, he interviewed with one of the U.S. mainstream media. He said that the deal was within reach. You know that we were supposed to meet with American delegation yesterday in Vienna to talk about the technicalities of a possible deal. So we didn't start this war.
KWONG: That's Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei. Thank you so much for speaking to us.
BAGHAEI: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
KWONG: And we should note, after this conversation, a senior White House official told NPR that President Trump said new potential leadership in Iran has communicated they want to talk. This White House official also said that American attacks will continue unabated for now. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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