Iran summons German, Austrian envoys in tit-for-tat move

Tehran: Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned German and Austrian ambassadors over their countries' summoning of Iranian envoys to protest Tehran's missile attack against Israel, reported their official news agency IRNA.

During talks with the envoys, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, director for Western European nations at Iran's Foreign Ministry, said that Iran was completely determined to defend its security and that Iran's military action against Israel was taken in line with the principle of legitimate defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Xinhua news agency reported.

Condemning certain European countries' positions in support of Israel, he said that "we would not have witnessed such disasters (in West Asia)" if the European sides had stopped Israel's "massacre machine and genocide" by taking effective and practical actions, including ceasing their financial and arms supports in a timely manner.

The German and Austrian ambassadors gave assurances of conveying Iran's protest to their respective governments.