shrewd move......
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Iran president says forces told not to attack nearby states
Story by Arsalan Shahla, Kateryna Kadabashy and Leen Al-Rashdan
(Bloomberg) -- Iran's president said he has instructed the military not to attack any country that isn't striking the Islamic Republic, even as projectiles continued to be fired at the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other states.
Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech on Saturday that Iran's interim leadership council took the decision a day earlier. Yet there was no sign of Iranian forces easing off their strikes on Arab Gulf countries, none of which have joined the week-long US-Israel bombardment of the Islamic Republic.
Iran's armed forces have been instructed "not to attack or launch missiles at neighboring countries unless attacked from there," Pezeshkian said. He apologized to neighboring countries for "being attacked by Iran."
"We have no intention of attacking neighboring countries," he added, calling them "our brothers."
Around the same time he spoke, sirens and missile alerts went off in Bahrain and Qatar. In Dubai, Emirates suspended flights briefly after another round of projectiles disrupted the operations of the world's largest international airline.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones in the Empty Quarter desert that were heading toward the Shaybah oil field, which has the capacity to pump 1 million barrels of crude a day.
Gulf states have urged Iran to avoid retaliating against them and the likes of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have said the US and Israel cannot use their airspace or territory for any attacks on the Islamic Republic.
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pro ecclesia, pro javelina
