Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a direct apology to his country’s neighbors on Saturday as Israeli fighter jets unleashed a massive overnight bombardment on the Iranian capital.
In a prerecorded address broadcast on state television, Pezeshkian said that he would seek to to deescalate tensions with Iran’s neighbors following a week of cross-border missile and drone exchanges.
The Iranian president said that the country’s interim leaderhip council, appointed after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last Saturday, had approved a new directive on responding to military threats, according to a copy of the remarks published by state-controlled broadcaster Press TV.