Rouhani says Iran working to 'prevent war', open to dialogue

TEHERAN－Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he wants to avoid war after Teheran and Washington appeared on the brink of direct military confrontation in early January for the second time in less than a year.

Ahead of parliamentary elections on Feb 21－predicted to be a challenge for Rouhani－and amid high tensions between Teheran and the West over Iran's nuclear program, the president said on Thursday that dialogue with the world was still "possible".

"The government is working daily to prevent military confrontation or war," Rouhani said in a televised speech.

The region seemed on the brink of new conflict earlier in January after the US killed senior Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad, prompting Iran to retaliate against a US military base in Iraq with a volley of missiles days later.

Eleven US soldiers were treated for concussion symptoms as a result of the Iranian missile attack, the US military said on Thursday in a statement.

At the time of the attack, most of the 1,500 US soldiers at the base had been tucked away in bunkers, after advance warning from superiors.

The strike caused significant material damage but no casualties, according to previous reports from the US military.

Rouhani said the strike amounted to "compensation" for the death of Soleimani, the architect of Iran's Middle East military strategy.

The tensions between the two enemies seemed to subside in the wake of the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger airliner hours after the retaliatory strikes, as Iran was on high alert for US reprisals.

The tragedy killed 176 people, mostly Iranians and Canadians.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Thursday that all countries involved in the airliner crash should avoid turning it into a political issue, the Iranian semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Five countries whose citizens died when Iran shot down the aircraft last week said on Thursday that Teheran should pay compensation to families of the victims, and warned that the world is watching for its response.

Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and Britain said in a statement issued after a meeting of officials in London that Iran should hold a "thorough, independent and transparent international investigation open to grieving nations".

Canada's foreign minister on Thursday vowed to push Iran for answers about the tragedy. "Families want answers, the international community wants answers, the world is waiting for answers and we will not rest until we get them," Francois-Philippe Champagne said.

Agencies - Xinhua