Iranian journalist Javad Mogooyi has published the first of a multi-part interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, recorded before the resumption of hostilities with the United States. Araghchi narrates the prelude to the conflict, up to the ceasefire, which he claims represented a strategic victory. Along the way, however, he and Mogooyi give valuable insight and intelligence.
Araghchi claims that the war occurred because Tehran refused concessions that would limit uranium enrichment, even for a short period. The host asked why Iran refused to agree to even a temporary concession until President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leave office. Araghchi said he neither wanted to give up “the country’s honor” nor create a precedent in which the Islamic Republic made concessions in response to force.
Araghchi said he neither wanted to give up “the country’s honor” nor create a precedent in which the Islamic Republic made concessions in response to force.
Araghchi said that he was certain that the United States and Israel would attack Iran. “The armed forces should not put their hopes in me,” he advised. “The negotiations were for closure so that nobody, domestically or internationally, would say if you had negotiated there wouldn’t be war. We were certain that there would be war. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind this tactic too.”
Araghchi said, “We had designs for every scenario,” adding, “Why was the Strait of Hormuz closed from the first day? Because, from the beginning, it had been agreed that, if the supreme leader had been a target, the strait would close.” The codename for this scenario was “Code 110.” He then said, “We thought that maybe there was a 10 percent chance that we could achieve our objectives diplomatically, and we should try that.”
Araghchi said that, in a meeting with his counterparts visiting for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral, they agreed that the United States and Iran had reached parity. He explains, “The enemy began from ‘unconditional surrender’ and reached a point in which the two sides both acted as superpowers,” especially after the United States “begged” to include the second article of the Memorandum of Understanding, in which both parties “undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.”
A file photo of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Araghchi’s story about his regional diplomacy is interesting. After the host criticized him for not warning the rest of the region diplomatically, Araghchi said, “How do you know that we didn’t do it? One regional leader was excited that Iran was going to be attacked and told us not to respond, because ‘they would hit yourselves and your leadership.’” Araghchi said he responded, “Whatever they hit, we will hit the same. If Israel hits our nuclear facilities, we will hit theirs. Our missiles do not reach America, so we will hit their bases, which are unfortunately in your countries. If they hit our oil facilities, we will ensure that nobody in the region can sell oil.”
Araghchi said regional governments said they counseled Trump against war, because “Iran is different than Venezuela,” where the United States launched a military intervention in January and captured former president Nicolás Maduro.
While Iran’s targeting of Oman, one of its closest allies, surprised a number of analysts, Araghchi explained that the rationale for the strike was that the Omanis were providing a refueling service for U.S. ships. Araghchi said that after the Iranian strike on the company, it stopped servicing American ships.
Araghchi claimed that the Gulf Arab states’ inability to respond to Iranian attacks changed “the region’s whole security architecture.” He claimed his threats to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan led Turkey to shut down Trump’s plan to encourage a Kurdish revolt inside Turkey. He also said that he works to exacerbate division between the United States and Israel. “There are sometimes conflicts of objectives and positions which can be played with,” he explained.
Araghchi also bragged about the speed of Iranian recovery after the June 2025 Twelve-Day War. He said that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Ali-Mohammad Naini told him that Iran had increased its missile capabilities threefold, and said Mohammad Pakpoor, the late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, said he reduced the time needed to reactivate a base after an attack from 10–15 hours to 35–40 minutes. “An American think tank said Iran loses 10–15 percent of its launchers a day and has lost a third so far, and it could last at least until [March 20], but that was based on the Twelve-Day War and they didn’t realize Iran had changed its whole launching system,” he said.
“The regime would collapse if all members of the Supreme National Security Council are hit, which is why they never met at once during the war.”
Araghchi talked about meeting in tunnels equipped with extra oxygen, though the interviewer quipped, “When you enter, you have to stay for a few days. You cannot go in and out quickly.” Mogooyi revealed the locations of two tunnels: “There is a tunnel, one at the end of Pirouzi [street], and another one north of Darband,” he said, to which Araghchi responded, “There are more, of which you do not know.”
Araghchi said that he had a difficult time communicating with the civilian leadership, who were in hiding, but Pakpoor’s successor, Ahmad Vahidi, and Khatam al-Anbiya base commander Ali Abdollahi were instantly accessible.
Araghchi spoke of two vulnerabilities. The “biggest vulnerability is the penetration of the regime” by spies, he said, adding, “The regime would collapse if all members of the Supreme National Security Council are hit, which is why they never met at once during the war.”
Another political subject was the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and the decision-makers. According to Araghchi, the commanders decide the direction. Mojtaba Khamenei, who, like Mahdi, is in hiding, has symbolic value. “I have never met Mojtaba. [His appointment] was a very important message to the world that there would be no change in the regime’s policies and ideals,” an explanation that contradicts Vice President J.D. Vance’s assertion that the new regime is fundamentally different. “You’re seeing people within the Iranian system—senior leadership, even IRGC officials—say, ‘You know what? We recognize the way that we’ve done business with the U.S. for 47 years is a mistake. Let’s try something else,’” Vance said.
