Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks at a press conference at the Lutfi Kurdar Conference Center on the sidelines of the 51st Foreign Ministers’ Council of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, June 22, 2025.
Yuzan Kose | AFP | Getty Images
Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday that his country was “not asking for a ceasefire” with the United States and Israel and that he “sees no reason to negotiate” after nearly a week of war.
Foreign Minister Abbas Aragushi also said in an exclusive interview with Tom Lamas on NBC Nightly News that Iran is “confident” that it can confront the U.S. military if President Donald Trump decides to invade Iran with ground forces.
“And that would be a huge disaster for them,” Arraguchi told NBC Nightly News.
He also said that after six days of war with Iran, “it is clear that the United States has not achieved its primary goal of a clean and quick victory.”
“They failed to achieve that and now they are trying to justify why they attacked us. And, you know, they offered so many different reasons, none of which worked,” Arraguchi said. “And now they’re talking about Plan B. And I believe Plan B will be an even bigger failure.”
Araghchi’s comments come after President Trump predicted that the war with the United States would last four to five weeks, suggesting that Iran will be in a long-term war with the United States. President Trump has criticized his Democratic predecessors for their involvement in protracted conflicts in the Middle East.
This war is “not our war,” Araghchi said. “This is the war America chose.”
“We are not asking for a ceasefire and we see no reason to negotiate,” he said.
“Do we negotiate with the US when we negotiated with them twice, and every time they attack us in the middle of negotiations?” he asked.
“Therefore, there is no request from us for a ceasefire and no request for negotiations with the United States.”
Asked why Iran launched attacks on nearly ten neighboring Arab countries during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Araghchi said: “We are not attacking neighboring countries. We are not attacking Islamic countries either.”
“We have attacked American targets, American military bases, American facilities, and unfortunately they are on the soil of neighboring countries,” he said. “So we made it very clear to them. I contacted their foreign minister and explained to them, ‘We’re not targeting you. There’s nothing wrong with you. We’re just targeting American facilities.'”
