Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has described US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks on counterterrorism during the anniversary of the September 11 attacks as full of contradictions.
Baghaei wrote on X early Saturday, September 12, that the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks were not Iranian and had been trained by the United States.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson accused the United States of aggression, carrying out assassinations, and causing civilian casualties.
He added: “You cannot commit aggression, carry out cowardly assassinations, and cause civilian casualties while simultaneously claiming exclusive authority to define terrorism and determine the legitimacy of violence by different parties.”
Baghaei claimed that the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks had been armed and organized by the United States in previous decades, apparently referring to US support for Arab groups fighting the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
The remarks come as Iran and the United States have effectively been in a state of war in recent months and have accused each other of resorting to terrorism.
