Smoke rises from an oil facility in Mangaf, Kuwait, on Saturday following an Iranian airstrike. [Reuters/Yonhap]
Smoke rises from an oil facility in Mangaf, Kuwait, on Saturday following an Iranian airstrike. [Reuters/Yonhap]

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the United States went to war after Iran refused Washington's demand to ban uranium enrichment during pre-war nuclear negotiations, calling the decision a "miscalculation."

Araghchi gave a detailed account of the behind-the-scenes negotiations and the circumstances that led to the recent conflict in an interview with local journalist Javad Mogouei.

"We resisted their irrational demand for zero percent enrichment," he said. "When they realized they could not achieve their goals through negotiations, they misjudged Iran's preparedness and started the war. It was not the negotiations that caused the war."

He said that in February, the US position amounted to: accept zero percent enrichment or face military action. "The government and military authorities were convinced war would come," he said, "but we believed the other side might abandon the demand, and that we needed to negotiate at least once or twice so that — even if talks collapsed — we could say we had done everything we could." He said this was why Iran pursued diplomacy despite opposition from hardliners.

He added that any country would naturally prefer the less risky and less costly path of negotiations if it could achieve its goals that way. "Even if there was a 10 percent chance of reaching a non-war outcome through talks, we had to try," he said.

Araghchi rebuffed suggestions that the decision to end the 12-day war and negotiate with the United States was his alone, saying it was a collective decision made by a six-member committee under the Supreme National Security Council. He said a senior military official on the committee told him, "We are fully prepared — you do your job, Minister." He directly pushed back against the widely held view that hardliners centered in the military had opposed negotiations while pragmatists had overridden them to pursue talks.

"Through the 12-day war, we gained not only political lessons but very important military ones," he said. "The missile launcher system has been completely restructured so that no matter how many strikes they carry out, the systems can be immediately replaced."

He went on to describe Iran's contingency preparations, saying military scenarios had been drawn up and assigned code designations for a range of situations — a US strike alone, a joint US-Israeli strike, attacks on national infrastructure, and the death or incapacitation of the supreme leader. "Because of these preparations, we were able to respond without delay the moment war broke out," he said.

"How else could we have closed the Strait of Hormuz from the very first day?" he said. "It was designed so that if the supreme leader were struck, the strait would be sealed immediately."

Responding to criticism that Iran had not pressured Middle Eastern countries more forcefully, Araghchi said the characterization was inaccurate. He said one regional leader had told him with "extreme arrogance and a strange sense of pleasure" that the US would target Iranian soil and its supreme leader. "I warned him that if they struck our oil facilities, no one in the Middle East would be able to export oil," Araghchi said. He added that regional countries subsequently moved to act to prevent the war.

On the anti-government protests that flared in January before being suppressed by the government, Araghchi acknowledged that "we had weaknesses." But he claimed that on Jan. 8 and 9, outside operatives intervened and opened fire indiscriminately on both civilians and security forces — repeating the Iranian government's earlier assertion that the unrest was instigated by the United States and Israel. He cited a statement by US President Donald Trump that the US would intervene if bloodshed occurred in Iran as evidence for the claim.

Araghchi also shed light on Oman's early role as a mediator between the US and Iran. He said Oman had appealed to Washington by stressing that Iran was showing unprecedented willingness to cooperate, and that Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had continued posting optimistic messages about the negotiating atmosphere on X, formerly Twitter, right up until the outbreak of war. However, Araghchi said Albusaidi had been deeply discouraged after visiting the United States and called him in low spirits. Araghchi said he concluded the day before the war that conflict was inevitable and reported that assessment to his superiors.

He revealed that he learned on the night of Feb. 28 — the day the US and Israel struck Iran — that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had died around 9 a.m. that morning. Araghchi also said the retaliatory airstrikes on neighboring countries in the region were not carried out on the military's independent judgment, but were launched after diplomatic ultimatums, with real-time communication with the core command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Araghchi said he has never met in person with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reported to have been wounded in the strikes and has not appeared publicly since being named supreme leader. Asked whether last month's truce was Mojtaba's decision, Araghchi said, "At the time, direct communication with him was difficult, so we communicated through a liaison, and matters were conveyed in that manner."


kate01@heraldcorp.com