Iran spokesman says 9/11 attackers were not Iranians, rejects US war justification

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has said the September 11 attackers were not Iranians and rejected the US narrative justifying war against Iran.

• Baqaei said the 9/11 attackers were not Iranians, describing them as the same people the United States armed, organized, or supported in previous decades.
• Baqaei said invoking the September 11 anniversary to justify what he called a "reckless and illegal" war against Iran is absurd.
• Baqaei said the "war on terror" that followed the attacks brought years of war, occupation, civilian casualties, and widespread destruction to Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Baqaei said a war that included assassinations of officials of a sovereign state and the targeting of civilians cannot be justified by framing it as counterterrorism.