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Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed Saturday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is still alive "as far as he knows" and that most senior officials survived the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes.
He also condemned the attacks as "wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate" and accused the coalition of bombing a girls' school that killed dozens of children.
"Almost all officials are safe and sound and alive. We may have lost one or two commanders, but that is not a big problem," Araghchi told NBC News in an exclusive live interview.
"Netanyahu and Trump's war on Iran is wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate," Araghchi said on X.
He accused Trump of turning "'America First' into 'Israel First'—which always means 'America Last.'"
"Our powerful armed forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve," Araghchi added.
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Araghchi said "dozens of innocent children" were killed when a primary school for girls in Iran's southern county of Minab was struck.
"Bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils," Araghchi said on X, sharing a photograph showing dozens of people surrounding a heavily damaged building with smoke rising from the facility.
Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency and other outlets reported the strike killed more than 50 people and injured dozens more.
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Araghchi contacted the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq with a stark warning: do not allow the U.S. and Israel to use their territory to attack Iran, or they could become "legitimate targets."
Araghchi "reminded all regional states of their responsibility to prevent the United States and the Zionist regime from using their facilities and territories to carry out aggressive operations against Iran," Mehr reported.
He said Iran's armed forces "will regard the origin and source of aggressive operations" as well as "any action aimed at confronting Iran's defensive operations, as legitimate targets."
Araghchi framed the conflict in broader terms, saying the war is "not only against the Iranian nation but against all countries of the region," adding that "all Muslim nations and regional governments bear a historic responsibility to act."
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