Ambassador of Iran to China Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli in an exclusive interview with Phoenix TV in Beijing on March 4, 2026. Photo: Screenshot from Phoenix TV

Ambassador of Iran to China Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told Phoenix TV in Beijing on Wednesday that Iran will decisively retaliate against the US and Israel for their attacks and could strike the continental US if possible.

Following the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian Embassy in China lowered its flag to half-staff in tribute. When the conflict entered its fifth day on Wednesday, Fazli talked in an exclusive interview with Phoenix TV, criticizing the US and Israel for brazenly launching attacks on Iran at a time when progress had been made in US-Iran negotiations, calling the move an act of power politics and blatant bullying. 

Fazli also reiterated that Iran would decisively retaliate against US and Israeli interests worldwide, and stressed that, if possible, the retaliation would also include the continental US. 

The US and Israel have carried out airstrikes on targets inside Iran for several consecutive days. The US President Donald Trump also claimed that Iran’s “air defense, Air Force, Navy and Leadership are gone,” and he refused to rule out deploying US ground troops to Iran. 

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it had deployed troops deeper into southern Lebanon to conduct operations, increasing the risk of the war spilling over and becoming protracted, the Times of Israel reported.

When asked whether Iran is prepared for a prolonged and expanded war, Fazli said Iran hopes to avoid this but warned that if the US or Israeli forces set foot on Iranian soil, they will definitely suffer a heavy blow.

Fazli said he could not understand how many times the US must repeat the same experience before learning its lesson. Did their ground forces enter Vietnam and succeed? Did they succeed in Afghanistan? Did they succeed in Iraq? They have not achieved success anywhere, Fazli said in the interview. 

While responding to US and Israeli attacks, some media report claimed that Iran’s leadership selection had entered its final stages. In response to reports that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as Iran’s next supreme leader, Fazli did not directly confirm the claim. 

Fazli said that Mojtaba Khamenei has an excellent background. He is a revolutionary who possesses profound religious expertise, and he is a person full of wisdom and great courage. In the past, he has consistently been regarded as one of the potential candidates for the position of the supreme leader. However, Iran's Assembly of Experts has not yet made any formal or public announcement.

The original report was a Persian-language interview. The text provided is a translation from Phoenix TV's Chinese-language report. 

Global Times