A Tomahawk missile that struck a girls’ school in Iran, killing around 170 students, was launched from a US military base in a West Asian country and not from an aircraft carrier at sea, Iran’s Ambassador to India Mohammad Fathali said at the India Today Conclave on Saturday.
Defending Tehran’s decision to target US bases in Gulf nations, the envoy said Iran respects its neighbours but was forced to respond as attacks were being carried out from American bases stationed in those countries.
“And we have announced that you will not actually be touched — your assets, whatever you have inside your country. But we asked them what we should do when one of my schools, including the children, was hit by American Tomahawk missiles,” he said at the Conclave.
“We respect them (the Gulf countries) completely. But we will definitely target the American bases… It is very bad that we witnessed these schools being hit by missiles launched from a base in one of the neighbouring countries,” the envoy added.
On February 28, in the early hours of the US-Israel Operation Fury against Iran, a missile strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ primary school in Minab in southern Iran, killing around 170 people, most of them schoolgirls aged between 7 and 12. Preliminary investigations by the US military and independent organisations suggested the strike was carried out by US forces, allegedly due to outdated intelligence that mistakenly identified the school as part of an adjacent military complex.
When specifically asked whether the attack did not originate from any aircraft carriers at sea and to name the country involved, the ambassador refrained from identifying the nation.
On the broader conflict, Ambassador Fathali said Iran had repeatedly conveyed that it was ready for both negotiations and war, though it preferred talks.
“We announced several times. Iran is ready for negotiation and war. But we prefer negotiation,” he said, adding that Tehran had returned to the negotiating table despite knowing the intentions of the other side, in order to deny them “any excuse and any pretext”.
Asked whether Iran had anticipated the attack and the assassination of its supreme leader, Fathali said, “We are ready also for the war. But be aware, you can start, but you cannot finish.”
Responding to questions over why the supreme leader remained at his residence despite the threat, Fathali rejected speculation that he had moved to a shelter or fled the country, saying such reports had later proved false.
On India-Iran ties, Fathali referred to the recent phone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, saying he had worked to facilitate the call. He said the conversation was delayed because of communication difficulties with Tehran during the war.
“I believe Iran and India have common interests. I believe both countries have the same fate,” he said, adding that any gap between the two nations could be exploited by their enemies. He also said both sides had the “political and social maturity” to handle differences and work together.
When asked whether India’s vessels had been allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the ambassador confirmed that they had. “Yes, we have allowed, but let me not tell you how many,” he said, declining to share operational details.
