Iran ‘does not desire a war but we are ready for it,’ says foreign minister

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran does not want war with Israel or the United States, but is ready to fight back if attacked again, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday.

Speaking in Beirut, Araghchi told reporters that Iran is also ready for negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program as long as the talks are based on mutual respect rather than “dictation” by Washington.

The minister’s comments came as many fear that close U.S. ally Israel will target Iran again as it did during the 12-day war in June, during which Israel killed senior military officials and nuclear scientists and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear enrichment sites.

“America and Israel have tested their attack on Iran and this attack and strategy faced extreme failure,” Araghchi said at the start of a two-day visit to Lebanon. “If they repeat it, they will face the same results.”

“We are ready for any choice. We don’t desire a war but we are ready for it,” Araghchi said.

U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in February in an effort to block its development of nuclear weapons. The campaign included U.S. led strikes on three critical Iranian enrichment facilities in June.

Araghchi said Tehran is ready for negotiations, adding: “But I say that the negotiations should be based on mutual respect and mutual interests.”

“We believe that once the Americans reach the outcome that constructive and positive negotiations rather than ordering dictation are the framework, then at that time the results of the these negotiations become fruitful,” he said.

Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels — after Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Tehran long has maintained its atomic program is peaceful, though the West and the IAEA, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, say Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003.

Trump last month warned Iran that the U.S. could carry out further military strikes if the country attempts to reconstitute its nuclear program as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.

Araghchi’s visit to Beirut came as the Lebanese military said it had concluded the first phase of a plan to disarm factions, such as Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Iran’s foreign minister headed an economic delegation for talks with Lebanese officials on regional and international affairs.

“Iran desires having comprehensive relations with Lebanon, including economic partnerships,” Araghchi said.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas.