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Vidya Bhushan Soni, Former Indian Ambassador to Ukraine claimed that the killing of Iran's top security official, Ali Larijani "was a kind of overreaction."
Soni, in a conversation with ANI on Wednesday, said that the US and Israel have a very professional system due to which they achieved their targets. "I think it's very unfortunate in this present-day world these kind of things are happening. First of all, it should not have happened because I think the situation was, didn't warrant such kind of an overreaction. It is my personal view, government of India may have a different view, Americans were not primarily responsible," he said on Wednesday. "They were forced or maybe cajoled into taking the situation and you know who the authorities could be behind that. But they thought that things will be over because they have a very professional system from the other side, the Americans and their counterparts in Israel. They are very, the best informed agency which they have, both of them. So they thought that they have all the desired information and so they could target those people. They succeeded initially, absolutely correctly. Khamenei was the target and his family, so that they succeeded," he added. Soni said that regime change is not something which can be pardoned. "So they come up once they have the details about the location of the targeted person. They go full hog. And they do not, because they are professionals, so they will do whatever it requires, even if there is a collateral damage. So what the Americans and their partners are doing is trying to eliminate such kind of uncomfortable people. Regime change is not something which can be pardoned," he said. Soni added that a country cannot take such action against another sovereign nation. "I mean, I am a professional diplomat and as per the laws, international law, you cannot undertake an action which is against any other sovereign nation. And that is exactly what was done. There was no reason for them. After all, the persons who carried out that kind of action, they are not appointed international police person. No police person will ever do this kind of. You can apprehend," he said. Soni critiqued the bombing of girls' hostel in Iran. "They can destabilise, can do anything that you like. But you can't undertake that kind of destructive action where you wipe out the entire innocent population. I mean, just imagine the girls' hostel, which was targeted. What were the girls doing? They were staying, they were not fighting any war. Why is it that they were targeted? Just because, and who gave you the permission? So this is something which to my mind no right thinking person, as you would have seen the voices from the Western European so-called NATO allies have also not condoned this kind of hyperaction," he said. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi says damage to Iran's Bushehr nuclear site appears not to be "very significant" and that a strike on the facility may have hit a small building containing a laboratory. Grossi told reporters that the IAEA had received information about the incident from Iran and from Russia that Bushehr was hit by a drone. He said it did not hit the actual power plant but landed on the premises, as reported by Al Jazeera. He added, "The reactors have not been affected and there are no casualties," he said, adding that his agency had not yet been able to independently confirm the damage, "At the same time, any attack on any nuclear facility should always be avoided." (ANI)
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