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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, in an exclusive interview with the Ihlas News Agency (IHA), denied that Iran has fired missiles toward Türkiye.
He accused the U.S. of deliberately striking a girls' primary school in Minab with two Tomahawk missiles, killing at least 175 children, and called on Ankara and regional countries to recognize the conflict as "a war against their shared identity and civilization."
Baqaei flatly denied that Iran had fired missiles toward Türkiye or Azerbaijan, stating, "The claims that missiles were fired from Iran toward Türkiye or Azerbaijan are lies."
"Iran's armed forces are extremely precise in target selection. We are targeting U.S. military bases and assets used to attack Iran. This is Iran's natural right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter," he noted.
He said Iran has no intention of attacking any neighboring country, noting that "Iran has no intention of attacking Türkiye. I emphasize again, the weight of words matters. We do not attack any neighboring country."
"Our defensive actions are focused solely on the source and starting points of the military attack directed against Iran," Baqaei stated.
He added that the munitions allegedly fired from Iran toward Türkiye would be carefully investigated.
"It has been announced that the munitions allegedly fired from Iran toward Türkiye will also be carefully examined. Iran has never had and does not have the intention of carrying out such an operation against Türkiye," he noted.
On the Iran-Türkiye relationship, Baqaei stated: "The common border between Iran and Türkiye is one of the safest areas between the two countries. The religious, historical and cultural ties and sense of closeness between us and Türkiye are very clear.
"The mutual travel of Iranians between the two countries clearly shows the strong bonds and common feelings between Iranians and Turks," he said.
Baqaei also shared detailed information regarding the strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, saying two Tomahawk missiles were fired at the Shajarah Tayyebeh Girls' Primary School in Minab in Hormuzgan province.
"The two missiles were fired 40 minutes apart. The aim was to distract our military and rescue forces and then make sure they could kill more people. At least 175 Iranian children were martyred in the first hours of this attack," he said.
"This was not an isolated incident. I can list a long list of attacks on different schools. So far, at least 120 schools across Iran have either been completely destroyed or so heavily damaged as to be unusable," he added.
"Targeting a country's children is nothing other than genocide," Baqaei stated.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman added that 20 young female athletes were also killed in a single strike in Lamerd in Fars province, saying, "In a single attack carried out in the city of Lamerd in Fars province, 20 of our young girls' and women athletes were martyred."
He added that the Red Crescent building in Tehran was also targeted, as was a diplomatic police unit whose sole duty is to protect foreign diplomats and embassies.
Baqaei warned of the possibility of false flag operations designed to create conflict between Iran and its neighbors.
He cited reports in the early days of the war that Israeli agents were allegedly caught preparing to carry out bombings in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, saying, "There are many examples over the last 80 years in which Israel has tried to pit countries against each other through false flag operations, and they themselves have admitted this."
He also addressed the U.S. claim that Iran could send drones to California.
"I think about three days ago, U.S. sources published a quite ridiculous but potentially dangerous report saying they were worried Iran could send drones to California. We immediately reacted and stated this could be preparation for a false flag operation, because everyone knows Iranian drones cannot reach the United States," Baqaei stated.
On the U.S. copying Iranian drones, Baqaei added that, "They themselves said they copied them because they thought Iranian drones were effective."
U.S. official sources announced that they copied a large number of Iranian-made Shahed drones."
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman dismissed reports of Iranian diplomats seeking asylum, saying those individuals had stayed beyond their posting periods two to three years ago and were being falsely presented as defectors.
He also said he believes Iran, Iraq, Türkiye, and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq will coordinate to prevent the U.S. and Israel from using the current situation to destabilize border areas shared by the three countries.
On the nature of the war, Baqaei noted that "those who manage this war are extremely immoral people. U.S. officials say they will bring death and destruction to Iranians and state that they have set aside the rules of war."
"We believe the other side does not and will not take any line or rule into account in its aggressive actions," he concluded.
Since Israel and the U.S. launched joint attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, killing around 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, hostilities have escalated.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting U.S. military assets.
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