Iran will respond immediately and decisively if its nuclear sites are attacked, which would lead to an "all-out war in the region," Tehran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera TV in an interview aired on Friday.
Israel and the US launching a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be "one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make," he said through a translator.
Araqchi also claimed the US should take steps to rebuild trust with Tehran, which he claimed could be done by releasing frozen funds.
"We have a long relationship with America and, unfortunately, this history is full of very bad and negative events and positions to the extent of hostility and enmity with the Islamic Republic of Iran by America," Araghchi said. "Since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution and the beginning of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we were regularly faced with these hostilities and actions of the US against Iran."
Anti-Israel rhetoric
Speaking on Syria, he claimed Iran wanted to see Damascus's security - and decried the presence of the Israeli military.
He added that Hamas, in its attacks on Israel, had "revived the cause that was almost forgotten due to normalization," noting that the world has begun to see "the murderous nature of the Zionist entity."
The war was ignited when the Iran-back Hamas terror group invaded southern Israel, breaking an existing ceasefire, and murdering some 1200 people. During the attack, the terror group abducted some 250 people - many of whom remain in captivity.