Full interview: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

We turn now to the foreign minister of Iran, Abbas Aragchi. Good evening to you, sir.

Well, good evening to you. Thank you for having me for the second time.

Yes, and they are extraordinary times. Minister President Trump said this weekend he is not ready to make a deal with Iran because the terms aren't good enough yet. His administration is saying this war could last another three and a half weeks or so. Has Iran asked for a ceasefire?

No, we never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiation. We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes. And this is what we have done so far, and we continue to do that until President Trump comes to the point that this is an illegal war with no victory. And there are people being killed only because President Trump wants to have fun.

This is what he has said. Have fun?

We are.

Yes, this is what he said that they are sinking, you know, ships and targeting different places because it is fun. And the Secretary of War has said that there is no mercy. And this is actually a war crime. Even saying that is a war crime. So this is a war of choice by

President Trump and the United States, and we are going to continue our self-defense.

Well, that may be your position, but, sir, this is a war of survival for your government. Minister, don't you have to negotiate and reach out either directly or through a third

party?

No, it's not a war of survival. We are, you know, stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people from, you know, this act of aggression.

And we don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us. And that was for the second time. There is no good experience talking with Americans. We were talking.

So why they decided to attack us? So what is good if we go back to talk once again?

Well, I want to come back to that in just a moment. You're referring to the diplomacy with President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his envoy Steve Whitkoff. But just to continue on this, Iran is sending its drones and its missiles

into your neighboring countries, American allies throughout the Gulf. Before the war, your government traded with them. You had relations with them. If your government survives this conflict, how do you go back to

doing business with countries you're sending drones into and hitting civilian targets?

Well, obviously, these are the countries who have given their soil to American forces to attack us. So, what can we do? We just sit and watch that Americans are soil to American forces to attack us. So what can we do? We just sit and watch that Americans are,

American forces are attacking us from their soil,

and we don't defend ourselves.

But your drones are going into civilian areas and hitting plants and hotels and civilians.

No, no, this is not the fact. We are only targeting American assets, American installations, American military bases. Everything belongs to Americans. And this is a fact that they are using their soil. There are many, many examples.

Just yesterday, they attacked our islands using HIMARS artillery rockets, which are low range, you know, rockets, and they used the territory of UAE to attack us. Some a week ago, three F-15 jet fighters were shot down, apparently by a friendly fire in Kuwait, but nobody asked what they were doing in Kuwait. They were using Kuwait and, you know, a space of a neighborly, a

friendly country to attack us. So it is obvious we cannot just, you know, remain, you know,

silent. So many of these countries are part of CENTCOM, but this is the point is that it's going to hurt your country in the long term. But when we talk about the

Strait of Hormuz, which is such an important transit point for global trade, you have said it is closed to Israel and it's closed to the United States. The Financial Times is reporting that European diplomats from France and Italy are talking to your government about trying to get safe passage for their ships. Are you open to restarting oil and gas vessels going through there?

Well, we are open to countries who want to talk to us about the safe passage of their vessels.

You are negotiating with France and Italy?

Well, I cannot mention any country in particular, but we have been approached by a number of countries who wants to have a safe passage for their vessels. And this is up to our military to decide. And they have already decided to let a group of vessels belongs to different countries to pass

in a safe and secure. So we provide them security to pass, because we have not closed this strait. They are not coming themselves because of the insecurity which is there because of the aggression by the U.S.

I want to ask you again about the negotiations. Iran has declared it has 440 kilos or so of nuclear material. Where is that material now? Who has custody of it?

Well, we have not declared. This is verified and declared by the agency. That's right.

This is not a secret.

This is not a secret, you know. The agency have said in his many reports the exact amount of our enriched, you know, nuclear material.

So, where is it now? Who has custody of it?

So, they are under the rubbles. You know, our nuclear facilities were attacked, and everything is under the rubbles. Of course, you know, there is the possibility to retreat them,

but under the supervision of the agency. If one day we come to the conclusion to do that, it would be under the supervision of the agency. If one day we come to the conclusion to do that, it would be under the supervision of the agency. But for the time being, we have no program, we have no plan to recover them from under the rubble.

Am I understanding you here? Because I know that you said 48 hours before the US strikes happened, you had personally offered to President Trump's negotiators to take that 440-kilo amount of 60%

enriched material and to dilute You said Iran was ready to give that material away. This was in the deal that was also presented to Vice President Vance by Oman.

Today, is Iran still willing to let go of that enriched uranium?

Well, that was one of the elements of a deal that we were negotiating with our, you know, American interlocutors. That element dealt with the question of Iran's 60% enriched

material. And I said, I offered actually that we are ready to dilute those enriched material or down blend them as they say, into lower percentage. So that was a, you know, a big offer a big concession in order to prove that Iran has never wanted nuclear weapons and would never

want them.

Are you willing to give that up now?

Well, there is nothing on the table right now. Everything depends on the future. If any time in the future we decide to enter into negotiation with the U.S. or other interlocutors, we may decide what to put on the table. For the time being, nothing is on the table.

There are at least four Americans being held at Evin Prison that we know of, including a journalist, Reza Balazadeh, and Cameron Hekmati, a 61-year-old man. What is the status of those Americans? Are they safe?

Well, if the they if the US and Israel do not attack our presence, I guess they are safe.

Foreign Minister, we are running out of time. And I can see the internet is going in and out here. I just do want to point out, you're speaking to us via zoom. The Iranian people don't

have open Internet access. But you do. Why?

Well, because I'm the voice of Iranians, and I have to defend their right. So this is why I have access to Internet, to just, you know, have our voice being heard

by the international community. But internet is closed because of the security reasons, because we are under attack, we are under aggression, and we have to do everything to protect our people. In any country, there are urgent measures taken for the sake of war.

Minister, I'm glad the uplink worked to talk to you right now. We thank you for your time this morning. We thank you for your time this morning. Face the Nation will be back in a minute, stay with us.