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Iran says Israel pushing region into 'dangerous cycle of violence'
This picture taken from the Mount of Olives shows a general view of Jerusalem’s Old City with the Dome inside the al-Aqsa mosque compound, at sunset on June 14, 2025. Israel on June 14 threatened to strike “every target of the ayatollah regime” in Iran, whose president warned of a severe response if the Israeli attacks continue, fuelling fears of an escalating conflict. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli/ AFP)
Iranian media reported a “massive explosion” on Saturday following an Israeli drone strike on the South Pars refinery in the southern port city of Kangan.
“An hour ago, an Israeli drone hit one of the South Pars Phase 14 refineries, causing a massive explosion and fire in the refinery,” the Tasnim news agency said.
The Fars agency reported firefighters were working to extinguish a blaze that had erupted as a result of the attack.
Iran accused Israel of throwing the Middle East into a “dangerous cycle of violence”.
“This aggression pushes the region into a dangerous cycle of violence,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during a call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to a statement from his ministry.
“Iran has responded and will respond in a firm manner to the barbaric actions of the Zionist regime.”
Araghchi added, in a call with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, that Israel’s strikes on his country were undermining nuclear talks with the United States.
He said the Israeli attacks since Friday “took place in the midst of indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States” and were “a further sign of the (Israeli) regime’s inherent hostility to diplomacy”, according to a statement from Tehran’s foreign ministry.
© Agence France-Presse
