Iran is ‘ready for diplomacy’ or 'war' after Trump rejected proposal, foreign minister says — Transcript

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1. 0:00And joining me now is the foreign
2. 0:01minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi. Mr.
3. 0:04Foreign Minister, welcome back to Meet
4. 0:05the Press.
5. 0:09>> Well, good morning, Christian. And thank
6. 0:10you for having me
7. 0:12in your program.
8. 0:12>> Thank you very much for being here.
9. 0:14Let's start right there with your 7-day
10. 0:18ceasefire proposal. President Trump has
11. 0:20rejected it. What is your response?
12. 0:26>> Well, first of all, let me
13. 0:29say that I'm it's very interesting to
14. 0:31listen to Ambassador US Ambassador
15. 0:34who is desperately going back to old
16. 0:37unproved accusations in order to answer
17. 0:40a very simple question that why they are
18. 0:43rejecting a 7-day plan
19. 0:45a 7-day plan which can bring the life
20. 0:49back to normal in the Persian Gulf and
21. 0:51in the Strait of Hormuz. Why they
22. 0:54are they rejecting this? This is a very,
23. 0:57you know, important question that they
24. 0:59have to answer. Also, I'm surprised that
25. 1:03the ambassador is talking about
26. 1:067-day plan as he has not read it. Maybe
27. 1:10maybe he has not
28. 1:11given a copy.
29. 1:13Our proposal is very clear.
30. 1:17>> [clears throat]
31. 1:18>> We are ready
32. 1:20to
33. 1:23open the strait
34. 1:25if certain things are done by the US.
35. 1:28And these certain things are not new,
36. 1:31have not come from the space. These are
37. 1:34our rights that we want to be
38. 1:36respected. [clears throat]
39. 1:38First of all, we want to end this war,
40. 1:40this war of aggression.
41. 1:41They started this war eight months ago
42. 1:44with the hope that in two, three days,
43. 1:46you know, they can win the war. It's now
44. 1:48eight months.
45. 1:50And we want it to be ended. We want our
46. 1:53monies, our assets which are illegally
47. 1:58frozen be released. We want, you know,
48. 2:02be able to sell our oil. So, we want
49. 2:04certain things that US has already
50. 2:08committed itself in the previous, you
51. 2:10know,
52. 2:11deals.
53. 2:12>> But but Mr. Foreign Minister, you heard
54. 2:14you heard the ambassador's point was the
55. 2:17United States is not going to unfreeze
56. 2:19assets on the front end. It's not going
57. 2:21to lift sanctions on the front end. Is
58. 2:23it possible to negotiate a new peace
59. 2:26plan at this juncture or has diplomacy
60. 2:29failed?
61. 2:32>> Well, why why they are not ready to to
62. 2:35release our money? It is our own money.
63. 2:37It is not, you know, any other's money.
64. 2:40>> Because they want to see some actionable
65. 2:41items from Iran like opening the Strait
66. 2:43of Hormuz before they do that. Has
67. 2:45diplomacy failed, Mr. Foreign Minister?
68. 2:50>> Well, it's diplomacy can never
69. 2:53There is always hope for diplomacy.
70. 2:56But we have no reason to be honest with
71. 2:59you, we have no reason to come back to
72. 3:01diplomacy and engage with this
73. 3:03administration once again because of
74. 3:05their behavior in the past 2 years.
75. 3:07You know, in 2025, they offered
76. 3:09negotiation. We accepted and we engaged
77. 3:11into negotiation and then in the middle
78. 3:13of negotiations, they attacked us. 8
79. 3:15months later in 2026 February, again
80. 3:18they offered negotiation. Again, we
81. 3:20accepted and again, they attacked us
82. 3:22right in the middle of negotiations.
83. 3:24Then they offered after after the war,
84. 3:27they offered negotiation for a deal. We
85. 3:29accepted. We had 3 months of
86. 3:30negotiations. And it took only 2 weeks
87. 3:33for them to violate a deal which they
88. 3:36had signed themselves. So, if you ask
89. 3:39us, there is no reason why we should go
90. 3:41back go back to diplomacy. But I'm still
91. 3:43trying diplomacy because I think we
92. 3:46shouldn't miss any chance for peace. We
93. 3:49We don't care about, you know, US
94. 3:51midterm elections. We don't care about
95. 3:53any other things. We care about our
96. 3:55national interest. We are ready to
97. 3:56negotiate as much as we are ready to
98. 3:59face any challenge. We stand firm in the
99. 4:02face of any challenge any any
100. 4:04aggression, sorry. We stand firm in the
101. 4:06face of any aggression against us even
102. 4:09it comes to a doomsday war.
103. 4:11>> Well,
104. 4:11>> At the same time, we are ready for
105. 4:13diplomacy.
106. 4:14But and now there is a very reasonable
107. 4:18plan on the table. If they rejected for
108. 4:21with no reason, this is their their
109. 4:23fault. And I have to say that although
110. 4:26we heard from President Trump that he is
111. 4:27rejecting this deal, but we are still
112. 4:29waiting for an official response through
113. 4:31the mediators.
114. 4:32>> Well, and it is worth noting you're
115. 4:34saying that they violated the last
116. 4:36agreement. Iran did fire first on
117. 4:39commercial ships in the Strait of
118. 4:40Hormuz, but let me ask you broadly
119. 4:42speaking because it doesn't sound like
120. 4:44you have a lot of faith in diplomacy. Do
121. 4:45you trust President Trump?
122. 4:50>> Well, first of all
123. 4:52we didn't violate the deal. They
124. 4:53violated it first. But if they have
125. 4:56their
126. 4:57story and they think that we have
127. 4:59violated the deal, why did did bomb us?
128. 5:01They could have activated paragraph 12
129. 5:03of the MOU which is for
130. 5:05you know dispute settlement.
131. 5:06>> Because they say you were firing on
132. 5:08commercial ships in the Strait of
133. 5:09Hormuz. But but to my question, do you
134. 5:11trust President Trump?
135. 5:16>> Well, we
136. 5:17trust ourselves. We are ready for
137. 5:20diplomacy.
138. 5:21We are ready for war at the same time.
139. 5:23They had tested us in both cases. They
140. 5:25tested us in in their aggression twice
141. 5:28and they are
142. 5:29welcome if they want to test us once
143. 5:31again.
144. 5:32They have tested us also in diplomacy.
145. 5:34In 2015, we had a deal. We remain
146. 5:38committed to that deal. It was the US
147. 5:39who withdrew with no justification.
148. 5:42Now we had a deal
149. 5:44and they withdrew. They violated it with
150. 5:46no justification.
151. 5:48And still we have offered a plan.
152. 5:51Uh if they want if they are serious that
153. 5:55they want a deal to reopen the Strait of
154. 5:57Hormuz, now there is the possibility.
155. 6:00We have offered this 7-day plan. We we
156. 6:03we want them to do certain things which
157. 6:05we think they can do it in 4-5 days and
158. 6:07and then and on the on day six the
159. 6:09Strait will be open and on day seven we
160. 6:11resume talks with them for the final
161. 6:13>> Mr. Mr. Foreign Minister, we're
162. 6:15I want to get through a lot more here. I
163. 6:17just want to ask you because The Wall
164. 6:20Street Journal is reporting that
165. 6:21President Trump expects to resume
166. 6:23bombing Iran after the midterms. As you
167. 6:26know, he stood at the UN and threatened
168. 6:28to annihilate Iran. Are you preparing
169. 6:31for this war to resume?
170. 6:35>> We are fully prepared for the time for
171. 6:39the war to be resumed and I repeat, we
172. 6:41stand firm in the face of any new
173. 6:44aggression even it comes to a doomsday
174. 6:46war.
175. 6:47But at the same time we are ready we
176. 6:49stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to
177. 6:52the up to President Trump to choose.
178. 6:55He wanted unconditional surrender in the
179. 6:57previous war in two days and now it's
180. 6:59eight months that they are fighting with
181. 7:01no result.
182. 7:03A new aggression
183. 7:04would would be
184. 7:06certainly the same. We are fully
185. 7:07prepared to that for that. We have
186. 7:09learned our lesson from the
187. 7:11two previous wars and we have
188. 7:14corrected our tactics. We have changed
189. 7:16our tactics and we are fully prepared to
190. 7:18do that.
191. 7:18>> All right. Iran's president said this
192. 7:20week that Iran has quote never sought
193. 7:22nuclear weapons, but Iran has enriched
194. 7:24uranium to 60%.
195. 7:27That's 20 times more than enriched
196. 7:29uranium percentage needed to produce
197. 7:31electricity. Why does Iran need a
198. 7:34stockpile of 60% enriched uranium?
199. 7:40>> Well, uh
200. 7:41it is a question that we have answered
201. 7:44this during the negotiations we had with
202. 7:46the US. First of all, enriching up to
203. 7:4960% is not illegal. It is still in the
204. 7:52framework of NPT and our peaceful
205. 7:54program. We have done it for certain
206. 7:57purposes, medical purposes, other
207. 7:58purposes, but we have offered a deal on
208. 8:02our 60% uh material uh in 2025, in 2026,
209. 8:09and it's still it is uh something that
210. 8:13uh you know
211. 8:14could be considered if they prove their
212. 8:16goodwill and and their real
213. 8:18determination for a peace. We decided to
214. 8:21put everything nuclear for the for for
215. 8:24for uh later stages and go for
216. 8:27confidence-building in this stage. This
217. 8:29is why we have offered this 7-day plan
218. 8:32based on the based on understanding that
219. 8:34we had with the US interlocutors in the
220. 8:36past.
221. 8:37The first uh
222. 8:39confidence should be built.
223. 8:41Uh
224. 8:42our money, which are illegally frozen,
225. 8:44should be released.
226. 8:45>> Yeah.
227. 8:45>> Uh blockade should be removed.
228. 8:48>> But again,
229. 8:48>> Uh and and other things that they know
230. 8:50what to do that.
231. 8:51>> But Mr. Foreign Minister, again, we're
232. 8:53talking about 20 times more enriched
233. 8:55uranium than is needed to produce
234. 8:58electricity.
235. 9:00All that is needed is 3 to 5%. So, why
236. 9:03do you need that 60% of enriched
237. 9:05uranium? Would you let the US come in
238. 9:07and take it?
239. 9:09And the world
240. 9:10>> Well, I can explain why do we need that,
241. 9:12but but you you you answer one question.
242. 9:15Is this illegal or not? According to We
243. 9:17are a committed member of NPT.
244. 9:19>> But my question is whether
245. 9:20>> And 60% enrichment is not illegal.
246. 9:23>> No, but is it for peaceful purposes,
247. 9:25though? Is it for people Is it I'm not
248. 9:27talking about legal or illegal. I'm
249. 9:28talking about for peaceful purposes when
250. 9:30it's 20 times
251. 9:32>> No.
252. 9:32>> the amount of enriched uranium needed
253. 9:35for electricity.
254. 9:36>> No, it is.
255. 9:38It is for peaceful purposes and we have
256. 9:40answered this question. Yeah, we have
257. 9:42removed any any concern in in in our
258. 9:44past negotiations. If there is a still
259. 9:46such a question
260. 9:48there isn't why they they bombed us.
261. 9:52Are they you know
262. 9:54allowed to bomb anything that they think
263. 9:56is illegal or there is no justification
264. 9:58for that?
265. 9:59War is not a solution. That that was a
266. 10:02subject for negotiation and we did it we
267. 10:05did it in the past. We have enriched
268. 10:07uranium up to 60% for for peaceful
269. 10:10purposes and it is within our commitment
270. 10:14in the NPT. We have not violated NPT.
271. 10:17Okay, there are questions. We we we
272. 10:19answered that question in the past
273. 10:20during the negotiations and we can do it
274. 10:22again.
275. 10:23>> Mr.
276. 10:23>> There is no need for for military
277. 10:24operation.
278. 10:25>> Mr. Foreign Minister, final question to
279. 10:27you. The president of Iran said this
280. 10:29week he has spoken to the supreme
281. 10:31leader. He says he is in good health.
282. 10:34Why has there been no proof of life of
283. 10:38the supreme leader since he took power
284. 10:40in March?
285. 10:45>> Well
286. 10:47there are security concerns
287. 10:50and you're well aware of that.
288. 10:52You know our supreme
289. 10:55leader was illegally assassinated during
290. 10:58the
291. 10:59the the
292. 11:00the last war and I think it is very
293. 11:03logic that we protect our leader.
294. 11:05>> Why not put out a video? Why not put out
295. 11:07a video?
296. 11:08>> No, no, there are
297. 11:10for for security reasons. There are lots
298. 11:12of indications that he is under threat
299. 11:14by Americans and there are other
300. 11:17indications that he is in full control.
301. 11:19He is in full order. We receive his his
302. 11:23you know
303. 11:24comments and orders and opinions and
304. 11:26there is a
305. 11:27national consensus on decision making.
306. 11:30It is it is it is false if somebody
307. 11:33think that there are different source of
308. 11:36power in inside Iran. No, we move based
309. 11:38on national consensus. We in the foreign
310. 11:40ministry are in close coordination with
311. 11:42the government, with IRGC, with the
312. 11:45national supreme national security
313. 11:46council, with the parliament. We are all
314. 11:49in one front facing all challenges
315. 11:53imposed on us by the US.
316. 11:54>> All right.
317. 11:55>> sanctions or military operation.
318. 11:56>> All right. Foreign Minister Araghchi,
319. 11:58thank you very much.
320. 11:59>> We thank you for watching and remember
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