The escalation comes after Iran continued to back out of negotiations with the United States over their nuclear program. Araghchi told NBC Nightly News' Tom Llamas that Iran's remaining leaders are "waiting" for a ground strike.
Llamas asked Araghchi if he feared a ground invasion, to which Araghchi replied, "No, we are waiting for them. Because we are confident that we can confront them, and that would be a big disaster for them."
"We didn’t ask for a ceasefire even last time," Araghchi said. "In previous time, it was Israel who asked for a ceasefire. They asked for an unconditional ceasefire after 12 days that we resisted against their aggression," he said, referring to the 12-day war last June when the Israeli and U.S. military targeted Iran's nuclear facilities. Araghchi had been involved in the failed negotiations with Trump advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner last week.
"The fact is that we don’t have any positive experience of negotiating with the United States," Araghchi said. "You know, especially with this administration. We negotiated twice last year and this year, and then in the middle of negotiations, they attacked us." Hegseth and Trump have both said that Iran kept backing out of negotiations.
"So we see no reason why we should engage once again with those who have, who are not honest in negotiation, and they don’t and do not enter into negotiation in good faith," Araghchi went on.
"There is no winner in this war," Araghchi said. "Our win is to be able to resist against, you know, the illegal, you know, goals, and this is what we have done so far. So they have failed to achieve their goals, and we have been able to resist against them, to stand against the most powerful army of the world, as they claim, together with, you know, Israelis, who are, also claim to have the big army."
The United States has some 40,000 troops in the region, on carriers and on bases. Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have both said US troops would go into Iran should it be necessary to achieve their objectives. So far, the United States has lost six members of the Armed Forces when an Iranian drone hit a fortified operations center in Kuwait where the six were working.Trump detailed the goals of the conflict earlier this week. "First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities, and you see that happening on an hourly basis, on their capacity to produce brand new ones and pretty good ones they make.
"Second, we're annihilating their navy. We've knocked out already 10 ships. They're at the bottom of the sea. Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Never going to have a nuclear weapon. I said that from the beginning, they're never going to have a nuclear weapon. They were on the road to getting one legitimately through a deal that was signed foolishly by our country.
"And finally," he said, naming the fourth goal, "we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders."
Vice President JD Vance has said he does not anticipate the conflict being a multi-year, prolonged affair.
