Iranian Foreign Minister and one of the most prominent faces of the Islamic regime, Abbas Araghchi, told hostile US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff that Tehran’s delegation held peace talks with the United States under the constant threat of being bombed.
In an interview with Iran’s Mehr News Agency, the Iranian Foreign Minister said: “I asked Witkoff (during negotiations), have you ever been in a meeting where there was a chance of being bombed at any moment?”
He, however, didn’t clarify when exactly the negotiations he was referring to were held.
Araghchi, who is reportedly facing criticism from Iranian hardliners, however, added that Iran is not Venezuela, “where you take one person and everyone else gets scared and backs down”.
The Iranian leader said that the US made “two miscalculations” — “they started the war… they didn’t account for the resistance”.
“The Zionist regime thought that with a short attack, they could destroy everything. When that didn’t happen… they were forced to stop the war,” he added.
His remarks come amid renewed tensions between the US and Iran, with both sides launching fresh attacks on each other’s targets.
Both countries have again come closer to a wider war over the weekend after Iranian strikes killed two US military service members in Jordan.
With US President Donald Trump already declaring the temporary peace deal “over”, the US military has struck Iranian energy and critical infrastructure sites in Iran.
In response, Iran has also launched large-scale drone and missile attacks on several Gulf countries hosting US military bases.