Iraqji: We Will Not End the War Now and Trump Will Not Choose Our Leader

SadaNews - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced today, Sunday, that Tehran is not ready to discuss ending the war with the United States and Israel right now, emphasizing that Tehran "does not allow anyone to interfere" in its internal affairs regarding the selection of a successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Araqchi stated to NBC that Israel and America have already violated the ceasefire that was reached to end the twelve-day war last year, adding: "And now you want to demand a ceasefire again? Things do not work that way."

"A Permanent End to the War"

He further remarked that "there must be a permanent end to the war," noting that "until we reach that point, I believe we need to continue fighting for our people and our security."

As for Iran's attacks on Gulf countries, he denied that Iran "attacks its neighbors" intentionally. He said: "We attack American bases, installations, and interests, which unfortunately are located on the territories of our neighbors."

Ground Forces

He emphasized that if Washington deploys ground forces in Iran, "we have fierce soldiers waiting for any enemy that enters our territory to fight it and destroy it," as he put it.

Regarding U.S. President Donald Trump's comments last week, stating that one of the reasons for waging war is that Tehran will soon possess missiles capable of reaching the United States, the Iranian minister denied that.

He added: "That is not true. It is in fact misleading information. As you know, we have the capability to produce missiles, but we have deliberately limited ourselves to a range of less than 2000 kilometers because we do not want to be seen as a threat by any other entity in the world."

When asked about Trump's statements that he should contribute to the selection of the next Iranian leader, Araqchi confirmed that Tehran "does not allow anyone to interfere" in its internal affairs regarding the selection of a successor to Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on February 28.

This comes as Iran announced earlier today that it has reached a decision on a successor to Khamenei amid ongoing U.S.-Israeli strikes against it. However, the name of the person chosen by the Iranian Assembly of Experts to succeed Khamenei has not yet been announced.

In turn, the Israeli army threatened that it would continue to pursue any successor to Khamenei. It announced in a statement that its forces "will pursue anyone seeking to appoint a successor to the Iranian leader."