Dmytro Hubenko | Timothy Jones | Srinivas Mazumdaru AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters
Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran after Israel launched “preemptive” strikes. In response, Tehran lobbed missiles at Israel and several US bases in the region.
Iranian ayatollah alive ‘as far as I know,’ Iran’s foreign minister tells US broadcaster NBC
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told US broadcaster NBC that Tehran wanted de-escalation and was willing to talk when US and Israeli strikes on Iran come to an end.
“There is no communication right now,” Araghchi said, speaking from Tehran. “But if Americans want to talk to us, they know how they can contact me. We are certainly interested [in] de-escalation,” he said.
“This is a war of choice by the United States, and they have to pay for that,” he added. “But as far as we are concerned, we don’t want war.”
He said Iran, in contrast with the US, was only attacking military installations and that “once the aggression is stopped, we would also stop our self-defense.”
Araghchi also said two Iranian commanders had been killed but “all high ranking officials are alive. So everybody is now in its position, and we are handling this situation, and everything is fine.”
In particular, Araghchi said that the country’s supreme leader and president were alive “as far as I know.”
The foreign minister also criticized the US and Israel for launching the attack despite ongoing nuclear negotiations.
Source: dw.com