TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was very close to reaching an agreement with the United States during Omani-mediated talks held earlier this year, but Washington’s refusal to accept any of Iran’s many solutions torpedoed the process, and its subsequent attacks further eroded trust in the U.S. commitment to diplomacy.

“We were very close to clinching a deal, and numerous solutions were discussed during the five rounds of talks brokered by Oman, and we worked out solutions that could have solved the problem. However, these solutions were rejected in Washington, and at the end of the day, hawks became the dominant force there and pushed the country and the region into a regrettable path,” said the Iranian foreign minister in an interview with Omani media.

Iranian officials say the U.S. has always obstructed efforts to reach an agreement, despite Tehran’s willingness to negotiate and find a diplomatic solution. They have repeatedly emphasized that Iran would engage with the U.S. on equal footing to resolve outstanding issues but would never capitulate to its excessive and irrational demands.

Even following the recent war, Araghchi has reiterated on multiple occasions that Iran always favors diplomacy and remains ready to negotiate with the United States, provided that the Americans act in good faith.

“We have not had any positive experience with the United States despite the fact that each time we came forward honestly and opened a way. However, even without trust, it is possible to have engagement with caution,” the foreign minister said in another interview he held last month.

“We have never given up diplomacy if the Americans are prepared to get engaged in serious talks on an equal footing, with an honest approach, seeking to secure an agreement that would serve mutual interests, and not a unilateral one, based on mutual respect, in a bid to work out a solution that would satisfy both sides,” added the top diplomat.

Recently, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council rejected outright demands for the country to reduce the range of its missiles, which he said was one of Washington’s latest conditions for de-escalation.

“Calls to reduce the range of missiles amounts to demand for submission and stripping the country of national security,” said Ali Larijani. “The reduction of the range of missiles is tantamount to the undermining of the country’s most important defensive tool.”

Elsewhere in his remarks in his interview with Omani media, Araghchi referred to the U-Israeli aggression against Iran, saying the attacks undoubtedly inflicted heavy damage and losses on Iran, but at the same time had blessings for the country, too.

“The most important blessing was that our missiles and weapons were, for the first time, tested in a real war,” he explained.

“We fully utilized this potential, and all points of strength and witness became clear to us,” he said.

The Israeli regime launched a flagrant and unprovoked military aggression against Iran on June 13, 2025, triggering a 12-day war that killed well over 1,000 people in the country, including military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians. The United States further escalated the conflict by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in gross violation of international law. U.S. President Donald Trump later admitted that he had been "in charge of" the aggression from day one. He had, meanwhile, scheduled a sixth round of nuclear talks with Iran for June 15.

In response, the Iranian Armed Forces struck strategic sites across the occupied territories, as well as the al-Udeid air base in Qatar—the largest U.S. military base in West Asia. The extensive destruction wrought by these strikes prompted the U.S. and Israel to seek a ceasefire.