00:00India today is right where the news is and we are with the person who's making that news
00:06in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, sitting here in Tehran with the Foreign Minister
00:12of Iran, Abbas Araqchi.
00:14Thank you so much, sir, for joining us and giving us the opportunity to explain what's
00:19happening in this part of the world and how it impacts Iran.
00:22Let's begin with President Trump's State of the Union address, the longest one, but
00:28he's put Iran on notice.
00:30Is Iran prepared?
00:31First of all, thank you for having me.
00:34On your question, of course we are prepared.
00:38We are fully prepared for both options.
00:47War, God forbid, and peace.
00:52As you know, I'm going to Geneva this afternoon.
00:58In order to have the third round of our talks with the U.S. team.
01:05And we have made some progress last time.
01:09We were able to find some sort of understandings.
01:13And I think based on those understanding, we can build something in the form of an agreement,
01:24a deal.
01:26I think a fair, balanced, and equitable deal is achievable.
01:32And we can do it.
01:36Of course, our armed forces are prepared to do their job.
01:40And we know how to defend ourselves.
01:42And this is what we did last time.
01:44And we have learned lots of lessons from the last war.
01:47So we are even more prepared.
01:49And that means, by the way, that the aim is to prevent a war.
01:55When you are prepared for a war, you can prevent it.
01:58Otherwise, you are inviting it to your home.
02:01So we are fully prepared, not because we want war, because we want to prevent the war.
02:07I'm a man of diplomacy.
02:08I have to talk about my own job.
02:10And I think the way we are going to is the best possible way to resolve this problem.
02:19There is no military option for Iran's peaceful nuclear program.
02:23If there is any concern, if there is any question, if there is any ambiguity, we are ready to address.
02:30We are ready to answer questions.
02:32We are ready to remove concerns.
02:35But we are not ready to give up our rights for peaceful use of nuclear technology.
02:40This is what we demand.
02:44So I believe that tomorrow in Geneva, there is every possibility to come to an agreed solution, which is fair
02:55and balanced.
02:56You believe there is going to be an agreement, or are you just hopeful there is going to be an
03:03agreement?
03:03I think it is achievable.
03:05Well, I am hopeful, of course.
03:06Of course, it depends on the other side's determination.
03:11To be honest with you, we are not fully convinced that they have a real determination to do that.
03:17Why?
03:18Because we have a bitter experience of the last time.
03:22We were negotiating last June when Israel attacked us, and then the U.S. joined that attack.
03:30So that memory is still fresh for us.
03:34The wounds of that aggression is still alive in our minds.
03:39So we cannot forget that once we are negotiating with the U.S., and then they decided to attack us.
03:45This time we are obviously more careful, and we have concern.
03:53But if there is a genuine, if there is a real serious determination in their side to come to a
04:00conclusion, I believe it is achievable.
04:05Minister Arachi, you are saying that you are hopeful, and you see intent, not as much, but you are dealing
04:13with a U.S. president who is unlike any other in the past.
04:18Look at the statement, and please react to the statement, his State of the Union address.
04:23He has very clearly said, and please tell me where the credibility of the information really comes from,
04:28when he says that the president has claimed that Iran is developing missiles that can reach America.
04:37The negotiations and the terms and conditions are no enrichment at all.
04:42So where does the claim of the missiles really come from then?
04:48Complained about fake news.
04:50So I think now it is himself the victim of fake news, unfortunately.
04:59We are not developing, you know, long-range missiles, and we have limited the range of our missiles below 2
05:09,000 kilometers intentionally by ourselves,
05:12because we don't want anyone, you know, we don't want it to be like a global threat.
05:20This is only to defend ourselves.
05:23Our missiles has, you know, defense nature.
05:28They are only to build deterrence and to help us defend ourselves, exactly as they did in the last June's
05:37war.
05:38We didn't initiate that war.
05:39It was Israelis and then Americans.
05:41We only defended ourselves.
05:43For them, that was an illegal act of aggression.
05:45For us, it was a legitimate act of self-defense, and we did it by our missiles.
05:52So our missiles is our reliable means of defense, and we have no intention to, you know, extend their range.
06:02So this is not the fact.
06:05It was also mentioned the number of killings in Iran and other fake news.
06:09We have already published the name of those, of the victims of the recent, you know, terrorist operation.
06:16Is that 32,000?
06:173,100.
06:1932,000.
06:2032,000.
06:2132,000.
06:22It's only 3,117, you know, victims, which is very unfortunate.
06:31And we have published the names, and we have said publicly that if anybody thinks that the names are more
06:41than this, so please give us the evidence.
06:44Please add only one more name to this list.
06:48So there has been no names added to that so far.
06:52So the number 32,000 is absolutely right.
06:58So I hope that we establish our understanding based on real facts, and the fact is Iran is not developing
07:09nuclear weapons.
07:11We have always said, and I would like to reaffirm, that we have no intention to go for nuclear weapons,
07:19and we have no intention to go for long-range missiles.
07:23And we have, of course, the intention and determination to, you know, establish our rights and to practice our rights
07:33for peaceful use of nuclear technology.
07:35But isn't enrichment a deal-breaker?
07:38You're going to Geneva, you're saying you want it for peaceful purposes, but enrichment is a deal-breaker, sir.
07:44Enrichment, in the State of the Union speech.
07:47Enrichment, yes, is a very serious question.
07:50And we have dealt with that in the past two rounds of our discussion.
07:56And I believe that still there is the possibility to conclude a deal.
08:01Of course, I'm not going to negotiate through this panel, but I believe a deal is possible.
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