Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday denied claims from President Trump that Tehran is seeking negotiations and a ceasefire with the US and said that Iran is ready to fight for as long as needed.
“No, we never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiation,” Araghchi told CBS News host Margaret Brennan when asked if Tehran sought a truce. We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes. And this is what we have done so far, and we continue to do that until President Trump comes to the point that this is an illegal war with no victory.”
Araghchi added that “people being killed only because President Trump wants to have fun,” an apparent reference to Trump saying the US military was having “fun” sinking Iranian warships and suggesting he may launch more strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf “for fun.”
Brennan asked Arahgchi about a potential nuclear deal between the US and Iran, and Arahgchi said nothing was currently on the table. “Everything depends on the future. If at any time in the future we decide to enter into negotiations with the US or other interlocutors, you know, we may decide what to put on the table. For the time being, nothing is on the table,” he said.
Iran’s message in the face of the US-Israeli bombing campaign, which has killed more than 1,200 Iranian civilians, has been one of defiance. Araghchi and other senior Iranian officials attended a Quds Day march in Tehran on Friday, the same day US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Iranian leadership was hiding like “rats,” though Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make a public appearance.
“Mr. Hegseth!” Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X in response to Hegseth’s comments. “Our leaders have been, and still are, among the people. But your leaders? On Epstein’s island!”
