This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Iran “remains committed to diplomacy and peaceful solutions,” the country’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a message to Pope Leo XIV, Iranian state media reported on Saturday, Anadolu reports.
Pezeshkian also expressed Tehran’s appreciation for the Catholic leader’s “moral and logical stance on the recent military aggressions against Iran,” according to the IRNA news agency.
Iran targeted the goals of the US and Israel “within the framework of legitimate defense,” the president said, calling on the international community to “act responsibly against America’s illegal actions.”
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28. In response, Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. US President Donald Trump later extended the truce indefinitely.
READ: FBI offers $200,000 reward for former Air Force operative who defected to Iran
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
- Energy Diplomacy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Will Algorithms Replace OPEC?
- 6 detained after Palestinian flag unfurled on Eiffel Tower during Nakba anniversary protest
- Israel claims it killed commander of Hamas’ military wing
- UAE says it needs no protection from outside, vows to defend sovereignty
- Hezbollah reports 33 attacks on Israeli forces in south Lebanon
- South Korea opposes Iran’s reported plan to charge Hormuz transit fees
- Iran ‘remains committed to diplomacy,’ president tells pope
- Israel says it will sue New York Times over Nicholas Kristof article
- Ben Gurion and I: A personal feud
- Podcast by Jasim Al-Azzawi with Mark Pfeifle: Trump Goes to China as Dealmaker or Supplicant?
- US says Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by 45 days after Washington talks
- UN marks Nakba anniversary amid warnings over Gaza crisis
- Israel claims it targeted Hamas military chief in Gaza City strike
- Eurovision boycott: Sanchez says ‘silence is not an option’ in face of ‘illegal war, genocide’
- Javier Bardem says Nakba ‘never ended,’ calls Gaza ‘genocide’ in UN message
- UN relief chief says over 15 million Syrians need aid this year
- India, UAE sign pacts to boost ties, including in defence, as Modi begins multi-nation tour
- The rise of Reform UK and Islamophobia
- Amnesty chief calls Finland-Israel arms industry meeting ‘utterly shameful’
- Poll shows Israeli opposition could win 61 seats, majority want Netanyahu to quit politics
- Palestinian group says Israel has arrested more than 23,000 in West Bank since Gaza war began
- Netanyahu says Israel controls 60% of Gaza, exceeding ceasefire boundaries
- Israeli minister announces illegal settlement plans in Lebanon, displacements in Gaza, West Bank
- FBI offers $200,000 reward for former Air Force operative who defected to Iran
- Israeli occupiers burn mosque, vehicles, spray racist graffiti on walls in West Bank village
- Podcast by Jasim Al-Azzawi with Kelley Beaucar Vlahos: Trump-Xi Summit, Will it be at Iran’s Expense?
- The twenty-five minute premier: How Trump forced a banker onto Baghdad
- How Israeli propaganda works: Oppose the occupation and you become “Hamas”, “Muslim Brotherhood”, or “Anti-Semitic”!
- Palestinian National Popular Action Committee issues statement to mark 78th anniversary of the Nakba
- Palestine between the Nakba of 1948 and the genocide, displacement, and Judaization of 2026
- Monitoring group says 19.5 million people face severe hunger in Sudan
- Iraqi court sentences former official to death over Anfal campaign crimes
- Araghchi accuses UAE of being “active partner” in US-Israeli war against Iran
- Lieberman accuses Netanyahu of possibly using Gaza operation for electoral purposes
- Washington cites progress in Iran talks as Tehran maintains hardline conditions
- ‘Death to Arabs’: Israeli settlers storm occupied East Jerusalem in annual hate march
- Fatah unanimously re-elects Mahmoud Abbas as movement leader
- Mainstream US media complicit in selling Gaza genocide, sweeping new analysis finds
- Turki Al Faisal: Israel tried to drag Saudi Arabia into war with Iran to impose regional dominance
- Israeli army radio: Navy preparing to confront Global Sumud Flotilla
- Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail from Turkey towards Gaza to break blockade
- Palestinians mark 78th Nakba anniversary amid war, ongoing displacement
- Israel: Trump to decide on war after returning from China
- Hamas calls on Fatah to meet over “national strategy”
- Abbas’s son sparks anger within Fatah as reports point to growing political role
- Beyond unipolarity and the end of strategic certainty: Lessons imposed by the war on Iran
- Israel begins illegal settlement construction atop historic Hebron municipality building in West Bank
- Israeli attacks kill 200 children in Lebanon since March 2: UNICEF
- US lawmaker reintroduces resolution recognizing Palestinian Nakba
- Trump claims China’s Xi told him Beijing will not provide military equipment to Iran