‘Justice will be served after all’: Iran marks first anniversary of 12-Day War
Senior Iranian authorities have marked the first anniversary of the 12-Day War, which began on June 13 last year with unprovoked Israeli air raids that killed several top military commanders, officials, and nuclear scientists.
Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei wrote on social media on Saturday that the “amazing national unity” in Islamic Iran has left the world “astonished and bewildered.”
“This solid cohesion and unity has brought extra deterrence to our country,” he said. “We must protect this national solidarity and not allow ill-wishers to infiltrate the united ranks of the Iranian nation.”
“Let everyone know: we have absolutely no trust in the Americans. This distrust stems from historical facts and events,” he said, hinting at indirect negotiations with the US.
Mohseni-Ejei noted that during the 12-Day War, all components of Iran’s Armed Forces shone under the command of the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
On June 13, Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran by assassinating several high-ranking Iranian figures, including commanders and nuclear scientists, and civilians.
More than a week later, the United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In response, the Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories as well as the al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia.
Mohseni-Ejei added that the “brilliance of these soldiers of the Imam of the Age and these devotees of Islamic Iran was truly exhilarating and indescribable,” he said.
He explained that what caused the enemy to miscalculate was its inability to understand the reality of Iran’s national power and the unbreakable will of the Iranian people.
“They thought they could stop the Iranian nation from the path of dignity and independence through pressure and threats. But once again, it was proven that our heroic nation, at critical moments in history, turns threats into opportunities to rebuild and strengthen its power.”
‘Blood of martyrs strengthened national unity’
Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, head of the Expediency Council, also took to social media to commemorate the great generals that were assassinated in the 12-Day War.
“One year later, it has become clearer than ever that Iran’s enemies, with all their malice and crimes, did not achieve their evil goals,” he said.
“Although the will of the American and Zionist tyrants was aimed at weakening and dismantling the Islamic system and creating division among the Iranian nation, by divine will, the pure blood of these martyrs further strengthened national unity and renewed the spirit of resistance and steadfastness of Iran’s faithful nation against its enemies,” he noted.
The commander of Iran’s highest operational command unit says the Armed Forces are fully ready to give a painful and regret-inducing response to any threat against the country.
Aggression was a betrayal of diplomacy: Embassy
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Vienna also described the aggression as a “betrayal of diplomacy and international law.”
The embassy added that “justice, however delayed, will ultimately be served.”
“The 12-Day War was twelve days of relentless bombing, twelve days of assassination, and twelve days that turned Iran’s cities into heartbreaking scenes and our country’s peaceful nuclear facilities into symbols of the aggressors’ betrayal,” the statement read.
“Betrayal of diplomacy, betrayal of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and betrayal of every international convention meant to protect nations,” it said.
The statement added that the two criminal regimes committed every possible crime in their unprovoked and brutal attack.
“They massacred innocent civilians, many of them children, for no crime other than having a dream for tomorrow. They assassinated scientists who were seeking knowledge, not war. And they martyred our country’s commanders and senior officials — the guardians of Iran’s dignity and sovereignty,” it said.
The embassy criticized the silence of some nations in the face of these crimes. “Their hypocrisy paved the way for renewed aggression against Iran on February 28 of this year, as well as the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and Lebanon by the Zionist regime,” it further said.
