Iranian Foreign Ministry "wants peace but is fully prepared for war"

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi says he is "fully prepared for war."

"We are not afraid of war, but we want peace," Arakchi said at a joint press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Baghdad, Iraq, on the 13th local time.

"We will strive for a just peace in Gaza and Lebanon," he added.

Hussein also said, "I oppose the Middle East war spreading to Iran," and stressed that "Israel's use of Iraqi airspace is absolutely unacceptable."

If Israel wants to use missiles or fighter jets to bomb Iran, it must go through Iraqi airspace in between.

Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles into Israel on January 1 in retaliation for the deaths of Hamas political director Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Abbas Nilforushan.

Most of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran were intercepted by U.S. and Israeli air defenses, and some destroyed Israeli military facilities, but did not cause much damage.

However, fears of escalation have grown as Israel has declared a retaliatory attack on Iran.