Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials said on Tuesday that Iran would respond decisively to U.S. and Israeli strikes on the country.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post that Iran is the heir to a civilization at least 6,000 years old, adding that anyone who seeks to destroy Iran knows nothing of history.
"Aggressors have come and gone; Iran has endured," he wrote.
On Tuesday, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said on social media that the Strait of Hormuz "will either be a strait of peace and prosperity for all or will be a strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers."
Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on the same day that Iran is not seeking a ceasefire, warning that Iran will go by the rule of "an eye for an eye" without any exception.
"If they start the war of infrastructure, we will undoubtedly target infrastructure," he said.
Also on Tuesday, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Iranian media that the country's top priority at present was "decisive defense," adding that Iran would determine when the war ends.
Iran's Health Ministry said on the same day that more than 15,000 people had been wounded in U.S. and Israeli strikes on the country since fighting began on Feb 28. Of those, 1,682 remain in hospital for treatment.
The ministry also said 12 medical workers were wounded in the conflict, while another 72 suffered minor injuries or were otherwise affected. In addition, 87 health units, 24 medical institutions, 21 emergency bases and 18 ambulances were damaged in the attacks.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Tuesday that about 140 U.S. troops have been wounded, including eight seriously injured since the U.S. and Israel launched joint military attacks on Iran.
The U.S. Central Command confirmed on Sunday that a U.S. service member and a member of the U.S. National Guard were recently killed during the strikes, bringing the officially acknowledged U.S. death toll to eight.
Iranian officials vow retaliation against U.S., Israel
Li Li, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) from southwest China's Guizhou Province, has made it her mission to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of the Buyi people, particularly their traditional clothing.
Born and raised in a village of Qinglong County, Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Li began learning the intricate handicrafts of the Buyi people from her mother at a young age.
After spending over a decade working away from home, she felt a strong calling to return and safeguard her cultural roots. In 2015, she returned to her roots to start a business with the vision to revitalize Buyi clothing.
"Starting my own business was really tough in the beginning. If you want to make a Western-style suit, you could just buy some fabric and copy an existing design. But ethnic clothing is different. It requires constant innovation, and that takes a huge amount of time. Traditional fabrics tend to fade, and I spent months just trying to figure out how to fix the color. This problem had kept me up for a long time. But eventually, I tackled the challenges one by one," Li said.
Her persistence has paid off. This year, Li's team tapped into the cultural symbolism of the Year of the Horse, creating a range of horse-themed products that have quickly gained popularity.
"This year is the Year of the Horse, so we created a lot of horse-themed items. They are very popular and orders have been pouring in. Every year, we design our cultural products and clothing based on what the market wants. We started with a 300-square-meter workshop, and now we have our own intangible cultural heritage center. Over the years, we've trained more than a thousand embroiderers," she said.
As a grassroots NPC deputy, Li prioritizes listening to the voices of ordinary people. During work sessions with embroiderers, she takes time to listen to their concerns and offers flexible schedules for those with special needs.
The preservation of ethnic clothing and culture has always been at the heart of her work.
"During this year's 'two sessions', I will continue to focus on the preservation of ethnic clothing and culture. I want to encourage more young people to get involved in cultural inheritance. For example, I've been going to schools to teach students because I hope that intangible cultural heritage can take root in children's hearts from an early age. I want them to grow up knowing how remarkable our ethnic culture is and to develop a strong sense of cultural pride," Li said.
The "two sessions" refer to the annual meetings of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Conference, China's top political advisory body,which usually convene in early March.
NPC deputy from Guizhou revitalizes Buyi culture through inheritance and innovation
