Iran Essentially Is at War With US and Allies, Its President Says

Iran's president says his nation is effectively in a state of war with the US, Israel, and Europe, accusing them of trying to weaken the country on multiple fronts. "We are in a full-fledged war with America, Israel, and Europe; they do not want our country to stand on its feet," President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview published Saturday on the website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Politico reports. Pezeshkian's comments follow months of heightened tension, including US airstrikes ordered by President Trump on three Iranian nuclear facilities in June.

The West's war against Iran, Pezeshkian said, is "more complicated and more difficult" than his nation's 1980-88 war with Iraq, which caused more than 1 million casualties on both sides, per the AP. He tied the current pressure to the renewed US sanctions policy since Trump returned to office in January. He said the US and its allies are squeezing Iran economically and diplomatically, per Politico. "They are besieging us from every aspect," Pezeshkian said, listing economic, cultural, political, and security pressures, and arguing that Iran must mobilize internally "with all our might" to address its problems.