As the United States appears to inch closer to war in the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sat down for an exclusive interview with “Morning Joe” on Friday to discuss where negotiations stand between the two countries.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said a decision on military action would be made in the next two weeks. “So now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not,” Trump said at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington. “Maybe we’re going to make a deal. You’re going to be finding out over the next, probably, 10 days.”
On “Morning Joe,” Araghchi warned the U.S. against taking military action to restrict Iran’s nuclear powers, telling MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough, “there is no military solution.”
The foreign minister said that if the administration wanted to “ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and would remain peaceful forever, the only solution is diplomatic negotiation and coming to a diplomatic solution.”
Araghchi stressed, however, that if the two countries fail to come to an agreement, Iran is prepared to take whatever actions it deems necessary. “We are prepared for diplomacy, and we are prepared for negotiation as much as we are prepared for war,” he said.
Scarborough asked Araghchi about the specifics of the negotiations between the two countries, referring to recent reports that the U.S. has demanded a permanent suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. But according to the foreign minister, Iran has not “offered any suspension, and the U.S. side has not asked for zero enrichment.”
When it comes to Trump’s 10-day timeline, Araghchi told Scarborough that “no ultimatum” has been issued and that negotiators from both the U.S. and Iran are focused on a “fast deal” that benefits both countries.
“Obviously, any day the sanctions are terminated — sooner, it will be better for us, so we have no reason to delay a possibility or buying time. Not at all,” he continued. “On the other side, for the U.S. side also, President Trump and his team are interested in a quick deal, so we agreed to work with each other to achieve a deal as soon as possible. The only question is how to make it a fair deal, a win-win deal, an equitable deal, and that is the difficult part of that.”








