Araghchi: Iran Ready Even for ‘Doomsday’ War
TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there is no reason to return to diplomacy with the United States given Washington’s repeated violations, but affirmed Iran remains prepared for both negotiation and war — even a “doomsday” confrontation — in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
“If you ask us, there is no reason why we should go back to diplomacy,” Araghchi said, according to a transcript of the interview. “But I am still trying diplomacy because I think we shouldn’t miss any chance for peace.”
Araghchi laid out a detailed record of American bad faith. “In 2025, they offered negotiations. We accepted and entered talks. But in the middle of negotiations, they attacked us,” he said.
“Eight months later, in February 2026, they again offered negotiations. We accepted again, and again in the middle of negotiations they attacked us.”
After the war, he continued, the U.S. proposed talks for an agreement. “We accepted. We negotiated for
three months, but it took only two weeks for them to violate the agreement they themselves had signed.”
Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that President Trump might resume bombing after the U.S. midterm elections, Araghchi was unequivocal: “We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed. We stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war.”
Araghchi confirmed Iran has proposed a seven-day plan through mediator Qatar to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, requiring the U.S. to take specific reciprocal steps.
“A completely logical plan is on the table,” he said. “If they really seek an agreement, they can implement practical steps in a seven-day program, and on the sixth day, they will see the Strait reopened.”
The conditions, he stressed, are “not new” and were previously committed to by the U.S. under the June memorandum of understanding: “We want our monies, our assets, which are illegally frozen, to be released. We want to be able to sell our oil.”
Araghchi dismissed any suggestion that Iran’s calculations are shaped by American domestic politics. “We don’t care about U.S. midterm elections. We care about our national interests.”
The foreign minister’s remarks came as Iran’s military leadership issued a series of warnings Sunday that any renewed aggression would be met with overwhelming force. Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces, said Iran’s missiles and drones have “become more advanced and more powerful.”
“This time, we have surprises in store for the enemy. We will respond to any potential aggression by the enemy with new military technologies.”
Shekarchi noted that Iran has shifted toward asymmetric warfare and increased reliance on domestically produced defense technologies, describing the transition as “the most important change” in Iranian military doctrine since the 1979 Revolution.
“Conventional methods are vulnerable to asymmetric warfare,” he said.
He contrasted Iran’s shortages during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s with its current defense-industrial capabilities.
“During the first Imposed War, they would not even sell Iran suture thread for treating our fighters. Post-Revolution Iran has moved from dependence on imports of suture thread and barbed wire to producing the defense requirements of the day.”
Addressing the Strait of Hormuz, Shekarchi asserted that control over the waterway rests with Iran and warned vessels against attempting to use illegal routes to cross the chokepoint.
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, said the United States has no role in the region.
“The Americans are on their way out and cannot remain in the region. They have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, but have failed to achieve their objectives despite that spending,” he said at a ceremony marking Sacred Defense Week.
Rahim Safavi described the “smart management” of the Strait of Hormuz as a key factor in breaking the U.S. maritime blockade. “The Strait of Hormuz has turned into a weapon more dangerous than a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Major General Amir Hatami, Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, warned that any insecurity in West Asia would encompass the entire region.
“The war is not over yet. We must still remain prepared to deliver crushing blows to the enemy by the soldiers of dear Iran,” he said.
Hatami urged Iran’s neighbors to abandon reliance on external powers. “You have seen that cooperation with America does not create security. The security of the region lies within the region itself and in the hands of the countries of the region,” he said.
“Security in the region will not occur except by the elimination and removal of America and the Zionist regime from the region, and this occurrence is not far off,” Hatami declared.
Brigadier General Reza Akriminia, spokesman for the Iranian Army, warned that any renewed U.S. aggression would trigger a “more forceful, broader, and decisive response.”
He called on regional countries to help establish an indigenous security order involving all regional states, reiterating that the expulsion of U.S. forces would “make the region more secure.”
Ali Muhammadi, political deputy of the IRGC Navy, warned Sunday that if another war breaks out, Iranian forces will strike U.S. vessels and destroyers “even in the Indian Ocean”.
Addressing a gathering in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Muhammadi dimissed Trump’s claims of American control over the Strait of Hormuz.
“If Trump considers the Strait of Hormuz his own, then why are his warships and vessels not here?” he said. “If America claims to control the Strait of Hormuz, let it bring one of its warships near this area.”
Muhammadi said vessels present in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Sea of Oman are under the monitoring of the IRGC Navy, and dismissed claims about the daily passage of dozens of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as inconsistent with reality.
“The armed forces of the Islamic Republic, relying on God and the support of the people, are ready to defend the country’s interests,” he said.
“If another war occurs, without doubt, we will attack and hit their vessels and destroyers even in the Indian Ocean,” Muhammadi warned.
The IRGC Navy political deputy also cited the continuous downing of American drones as evidence of Iran’s use of new equipment and tactics, describing it as a sign of the armed forces’ steadfast will.
He noted that U.S. bases and radar systems in the region have been targeted, and that the opposing side has turned to greater use of aerial surveillance tools.
Regarding the withdrawal of U.S. forces and the status of their bases in the region, Muhammadi invoked the words of the late Qassem Soleimani: “The beginning of any war with Iran means the destruction of all their facilities, and this has been achieved.”