US has no authority to define terrorism: Tehran

In a post on X on Saturday, Baqaei censured remarks by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, saying his narrative contained “fundamental contradictions.”

“You cannot wage aggression, carry out cowardly assassinations, and inflict civilian casualties while simultaneously claiming exclusive authority to define terrorism and determine whose violence is legitimate,” he wrote.

He said the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks were not Iranian, but “the very same people” whom the United States had organized and trained in previous decades.

Baqaei also denounced the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 attacks, saying that what Washington carried out under the banner of the “war on terror” killed large numbers of innocent civilians and caused widespread destruction.

He further said Washington has used the anniversary of September 11 to justify what he called an “unlawful war” against Iran, saying the war involved the assassination of officials and attacks on civilians, including women and children.

In remarks commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11, Hegseth claimed that the war of aggression against Iran was part of the United States’ so-called war on terror and touted the damage inflicted on Iran since the beginning of the war on February 28.

-Islamic Republic News Agency