TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran favors “diplomacy,” but at the same time, it is “ready for war”.

Araghchi said that this statement that Iranians are the “men of war” does not mean that the Islamic Republic seeks war.

The main contention between Tehran and Washington is nuclear enrichment by Tehran. It is for more than two decades that Iran has been insisting that it will never abandon its right to uranium enrichment as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Araghchi said Iran’s strength comes from its ability to “say no to the great powers.” 

Araghchi made the remarks in the first national congress on foreign policy and the history of foreign relations, which was attended by Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations (SCFR), Ali Akbar Salehi, the former foreign minister and current chief of the Iranology Foundation, diplomats, university professors, and foreign policy researchers.

The remarks by the foreign minister came two days after he held intensive talks with the American side in Muscat, Oman, over Tehran’s nuclear program. The talks took place amid the deployment of the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and warships in the waters near Iran, with the intention of terrifying Iran to submit to its excessive demands.

Iran doesn’t “take order from anybody”

Pointing to Iran’s nuclear standoff with the United States, Araghchi said Iran has paid a great cost for its peaceful nuclear activities, including its nuclear enrichment program, and this cost has been in line with the country’s needs. 

He said uranium enrichment will meet the needs of the country in different sectors, such as agriculture and health. The minister added that nuclear fuel is essential for producing nuclear electricity.

Araghchi added, “I want to look at this issue in terms of independence and dignity. Why do we insist on enrichment so much and say we will not forgo it even at the cost of an imposed war? It is because nobody has the right to tell us what we should have and what we should not have.”

The foreign minister said Iran has the right to have enrichment. He said the Americans are saying that they are worried and don’t trust Iran to have an enrichment program. But, he insisted, Iran is ready to “allay their concerns and answer their questions, and if there is no trust, we can build trust, but nobody has the right to tell us not have it (enrichment).”

He said the Islamic Republic must prove that it “does not take orders from anybody and doesn’t tolerate any domination.”

"Creating confidence is possible through diplomacy”

The foreign minister said Tehran is ready to provide answers about any ambiguities about its nuclear activities, and “diplomacy” is the only path to clear up ambiguities.

“Other choices have not produced results. They bombarded our nuclear installations, but they did not achieve the result they wished. Knowledge cannot be removed through bombardment.”
“There are technology and knowledge, and there is no alternative other than negotiation,” he insisted.

The foreign minister was referring to the attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites by Israel and the U.S. in June 2025. 
The minister went on to say, “I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination, and pressures from others.” 

He said, “They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is in the power to say no to the powers.”

“Neighbors should be our priority”

Addressing the national congress on foreign policy, Kamal Kharrazi, head of the SCFR, a state-run think tank, also said Iran should prioritize ties with neighbors.

Kharrazi said Iran made a mistake in the past when it talked about the “export of the Revolution”.

“We should acknowledge that in relations with our neighbors, we made many mistakes. The export of the Revolution was nothing that could be done through wrong approaches. The export of the Revolution should have found its place in the hearts of others through the Revolution’s excellences and ideals and made them the defenders of the Revolution, as it was done in many cases,” noted Kharrazi, who was foreign minister from 1997 to 2025.

For example, he asked: Why do Iraqi people defend the Islamic Revolution?

He added that Iran did not send military forces to Iraq to make them obedient; rather, Kharrazi said, Iran resisted them during the Iraqi invasion of Iran during the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s.

“They have fully realized the values and ideals of the revolution, including independence. Therefore, the approach to exporting the Revolution should be done in a way that it finds its place in the hearts of others. At the beginning of the Revolution, we made mistakes that made some of our neighbors worried and terrified. Therefore, one of our priorities should be relations with neighbors, and our ties should be more inclusive.”

Resistance needed on all fronts

Elsewhere in his remarks, the veteran politician said Iran should “resist” in different scenes. “One is military resistance that armed forces of the Islamic Republic are doing it very well and stand against aggressions and defend the country. But we must resist in foreign policy and media arenas, and this is not limited to official bodies.”

We should respond to hostility reciprocally   

The SCFR chief also said the Islamic Republic’s enmity with its foes is in response to the hostility toward Iran.
“In the face of their enmity, we should respond reciprocally,” he pointed out.

He cited an example, saying, "The U.S. has been hostile to us since day one, and we should have responded in kind. Of course, in the beginning, we should have acted better in certain cases.”

He also rejected the arguments that Iran has gone to extremes in its enmity with its adversaries.

The former foreign minister said when a country shows hostility against Iran, “you will be forced to respond” to it. For example, he said, Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980 based on a miscalculation, and Iran entered the war to resist the invader.

He also refuted speculation that Iran could prevent the invasion by Saddam Hussein, saying, “This is incorrect.” On the contrary, he said, there are many reasons why Saddam invaded Iran. 

Saddam imagined that the time was ripe to attack Iran and annex some parts of Iran. However, he suffered from a miscalculation, imagining that the Iranian army was in disarray and therefore there would be no resistance.  

“Gap between ideals of Islamic Revolution and actual achievements”

Addressing the congress, Ali Akbar Salehi, the former foreign minister and nuclear chief, also pointed to the challenges and opportunities facing Iranian foreign policy, saying, "If we ask what the greatest challenge to governance is, the answer is clear: resolving the status of our international relations." 

Salehi said, "This domain has never been fully clarified over the past four decades, and its fluctuations have significantly impacted domestic issues."

Noting the gap between the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and its actual achievements, he continued: "We mapped out the ideals but failed to define the path to reach them. It was like attempting to climb Mount Damavand without preparation; we faced difficulties from the very start."

Salehi identified the failure to properly implement the Constitution as a core issue, stating: "Our Constitution is among the most progressive, yet we have not succeeded in its execution. Certain principles related to governance have not been operationalized, which has only fueled further disorder."

He also criticized the absence of genuine political parties in the country, noting, "If there were real parties or a dissenting voice within the framework of the system, they would act as a safety valve. The absence of such mechanisms leads to an accumulation of pressure and the emergence of systemic problems."