(REUTERS) Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday (March 1) that Iran “has always been open to diplomacy”, following U.S. and Israeli air strikes over the weekend that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several top military officials.

"This is the second time that we negotiated with Americans, and they decided to attack us right in the middle of the negotiation," Araqchi told Al Jazeera, criticising the timing of the strikes.

Khamenei, 86, was killed on Saturday in an air strike targeting his central Tehran compound, Iranian state media reported. The attack, carried out jointly by Israel and the United States, struck after decades of unsuccessful diplomatic efforts regarding Iran's nuclear program, leaving seven Iranian military commanders, including the head of the office of the armed forces commander-in-chief, dead, according to semi-official Tasnim news.

In response, Iran launched retaliatory strikes across the Gulf, targeting what it identified as U.S. military positions.

Araqchi underlined that Iran's actions were defensive, reiterating that "there is no victory in this war" and asserting that the attackers have "not been able to achieve their targets."

Despite the escalation, Araqchi stressed Iran's commitment to maintaining peaceful relations with Gulf nations.

“We have no problem with countries on the other side of the Persian Gulf. We have friendly relations and good neighbourly relations with all of them,” he said.

“What we are doing is, in fact, an act of self-defense and retaliation to the American aggression against us… We are not attacking our neighbours, but we are attacking American targets,” he added.

Posted by: AAngeles/NET25 News