<\/p>
In exclusive comments to Al Jazeera<\/em>, Abbas Araghchi said that Iran has no intention of closing the Strait of Hormuz at present, nor any plans to do \u201canything that would disrupt navigation in it at this stage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> Araghchi\u00a0sought\u00a0to draw a clear line between Tehran\u2019s actions and regional maritime security, even as tensions soar after recent US and Israeli strikes. He reiterated that Iran\u2019s military responses are targeted at American forces, not its neighbours.<\/p> Follow live coverage on US-Israel-Iran war here<\/strong><\/em><\/p> \u201cWe have no problem with the countries in the other side of the Persian Gulf, we have friendly relations and good neighbourly relations with all of\u00a0them\u00a0and we are determined to continue to these relations,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cWhat we are doing is in fact an act of self-defence and retaliation to the American aggression against us,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are not attacking our brothers in the Persian Gulf, we are not attacking our neighbours, but we are attacking American targets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> Political transition under way\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> On the political front, Araghchi also hinted at a rapid leadership transition following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli air strikes. He said state institutions in Iran are functioning and the country \u201chas constitutional procedures in place\u201d,\u00a0adding: \u201cYou may see the selection of a supreme leader in a day or two.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> Revolutionary Guards claims strike on US carrier\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> In a further escalation, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said it had struck the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cThe US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was struck by four ballistic missiles,\u201d the Guard said in a statement carried by local media, warning \u201cthe land and sea will increasingly become the graveyard of the terrorist aggressors\u201d.\u00a0<\/p> The carrier has been\u00a0operating\u00a0in the Arabian Sea since the end of January.\u00a0There was no immediate confirmation from the United States military\u00a0regarding\u00a0damage or casualties.\u00a0<\/p> <\/div> Iran Strait of Hormuz closure, Abbas Araghchi Al Jazeera interview, Iran US targets retaliation, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed air strikes, Iran supreme leader selection, Iranian Revolutionary Guard USS Abraham Lincoln strike, Arabian Sea US aircraft carrier attack, Gulf tensions Iran US conflict#Irans #plan #close #Strait #Hormuz #insists #attacks #aimed #targets1772393726<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In exclusive comments to Al Jazeera, Abbas Araghchi said that Iran has no intention of closing the Strait of Hormuz at present, nor any plans to do \u201canything that would disrupt navigation in it at this stage.\u201d\u00a0 Araghchi\u00a0sought\u00a0to draw a clear line between Tehran\u2019s actions and regional maritime security, even as tensions soar after recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[14170,13730,14175,5285,14172,14177,14176,13877,14178,14169,14173,14171,14174,13935,1386,13936,1783],"class_list":["post-4112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-abbas-araghchi-al-jazeera-interview","tag-aimed","tag-arabian-sea-us-aircraft-carrier-attack","tag-attacks","tag-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-killed-air-strikes","tag-close","tag-gulf-tensions-iran-us-conflict","tag-hormuz","tag-insists","tag-iran-strait-of-hormuz-closure","tag-iran-supreme-leader-selection","tag-iran-us-targets-retaliation","tag-iranian-revolutionary-guard-uss-abraham-lincoln-strike","tag-irans","tag-plan","tag-strait","tag-targets"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}