Iran ready to continue war 'even for five years,' rejects talks with US: Envoy

New Delhi: Rejecting claims made by US President Donald Trump that Tehran is seeking negotiations as the conflict in West Asia escalates, Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, the representative in India of Iran's Supreme Leader, on Saturday, dismissed these assertions, saying Tehran is prepared to continue the war "even for five years".

Speaking in an interview with ANI, Ilahi firmly denied that Iran currently wants to enter into negotiations with the United States, noting that it was Washington that targeted Tehran in the middle of negotiations.

"No. Never ever. Iran never wants at the moment to negotiate with them because they started this war. And we have experiences with them. Two times we were negotiating with them, and they attacked us. They targeted us," he said.

Ilahi stated that Tehran would not submit to its enemies and was prepared for a prolonged conflict if necessary. Drawing parallels with the conflict between Iran and Iraq, the representative said that Iran had experience in sustaining a long war.

"I don't know any deadline for this war. But what I know is that Iran is ready to continue this war to the end, even for five years. And we have experience in the war. We had eight years of experience of the war between Iran and Iraq at that time. And we are ready. And if you go to the streets of Iran, you will see all the people are there, and they are chanting for retaliation. And they say we are ready to give our blood, but we are not ready to give our land," he said.

Ilahi also said Iran had attempted several times to avoid escalation in the region and had urged neighbouring countries to help prevent conflict in the Middle East.

"We didn't want war. Several times, we tried to avoid any type of war in the region. Even though we informed our neighbours that they have to try to avoid the region of this war because the region cannot tolerate any more war," he said. (ANI)

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