By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Iranian President on Monday alleged that Israel, which last month fought a 12-day war with Iran, had plotted to assassinate him.
Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview that the plot to eliminate him failed.
“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Pezeshkian told US media figure Tucker Carlson in response to a question on whether he believed Israel had tried to kill him.
“It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting… they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks from Persian, in apparent reference to an alleged assassination attempt during the 12-day war.
On June 13, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign against Iran, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The Israeli attacks took place days before Iran and the US were set to meet for a new round of nuclear talks which began on April 12.
More than 900 people were killed in Tehran during the conflict, according to the judiciary.
The Israeli attacks drew waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, killing 28 people in Israel, according to authorities.
The 12-day war between Iran and Israel saw it, along with the United States, launching strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
During the interview with Carlson, Pezeshkian said his country has “no problem” restarting nuclear talks, provided that trust can be re-established between the two countries.
“We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations,” the Iranian president said.
“There is a condition… for restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again? We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us.”
