Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that his country must “continue to fight for our people.”
The US and Israel are “killing our people, killing schoolgirls, you know, attacking hospitals,” he told the president, Kristen Welker.
He said Israel and the US had already scrapped last year’s 12-day ceasefire agreement, adding, “Now you want to call for a ceasefire again? This doesn’t work like this.”
“There needs to be an end to the war,” Araghchi said. “Unless we get to that, I think we have to continue to fight for our people and our safety.”
On Friday, four sources told NBC News that Russia has been providing intelligence to Iran about US military locations in the Middle East, including intelligence that could help Iran locate American warships.
Pressed on whether Iran receives Russia’s support, Araghchi said “cooperation between Iran and Russia is not new, it is not a secret.” He did not say whether Russian intelligence was helping Iran acquire US military equipment.
“They help us in many different areas. I don’t have detailed information,” he said.
In a separate interview on “Meet the Press,” United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz discussed reports that Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran, saying “there’s no doubt that President Trump will deal with it accordingly.”
Asked if he considered Russia involved in the conflict, Waltz said “we know that Russia and Iran have had this complementary relationship.”
“If they’re providing it, it’s not very successful, because the US military is destroying Iran’s military, air defense, navy, ground forces, command and control,” Waltz said. “So whatever they’re providing, if they’re providing anything, hasn’t proven to help them much.”
On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran will no longer be able to attack neighboring countries in the Gulf without being able to attack the US or Israel, and apologized to the region after Iranian strikes that killed people in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
But Araghchi said Iran had not “attacked our neighbors” on purpose.
“We are attacking American bases, American installations, American goods, unfortunately located on the soil of our neighbors,” he said.
Araghchi added that Pezeshkian apologized to the people of the region “for the inconvenience they faced because of this violence by the United States and our revenge.”
The Iranian minister also said that if the US sends ground troops to Iran, “we have brave soldiers who are waiting for any enemy that enters our soil, we will fight them and kill them and destroy them.”
President Donald Trump said last week that one of the reasons for launching the war is that Iran will soon have missiles capable of reaching the US, but Araghchi said this is not true.
“This is actually incorrect information,” he said. “You know, we have the ability to produce missiles, but we deliberately put them at a range of less than 2,000 kilometers because we don’t want to feel threatened by anyone else in the world.”
Iran’s Assembly of Experts has elected a new supreme leader after the strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Iranian state media, but Araghchi did not provide details on who will replace him.
“No one knows,” he said. “There are many rumors. But you know, we have to wait until the Assembly of Experts meets.”
Pressed on Trump’s comment that he wants to participate in choosing Iran’s next leader, Araghchi said Iran “will not allow anyone to interfere in our domestic affairs.”
“This is for the Iranian people to choose their new leader,” he said. “They have already chosen the Assembly of Experts, and the Assembly of Experts will do the work.”
Trump said in a post Friday on Truth Social that the US will not make a deal with Iran “without a TERRITORIAL SURRENDER.”
Asked on “Meet the Press” what the president meant, Waltz said he would “leave that up to the president as chief executive to see what that looks like in the end.”
“We’re ahead of schedule, and what he ultimately wants is common sense,” Waltz said. “As he said, we must have an Iranian government that no longer threatens the American people, threatens our allies and threatens the world, and holds global power through missiles and naval forces.”
