US must choose honorable deal or face greater strategic failure: Iranian FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the United States must choose between a “just and honorable” deal with Tehran or face an even greater “strategic failure” if it launches another round of military aggression against Iran.

In an article published by the Financial Times on Wednesday, Araghchi said Washington “must demonstrate seriousness and a genuine will to permanently end its aggression.”

“If the US again chooses military action over diplomacy, I can say with complete and utter confidence that it will result in an even greater strategic failure,” he wrote.

He said Iran, an “ancient and proud civilization,” would never “bend its knee to any power,” stressing that the country would stand firm in defending its sovereignty.

He reiterated that Tehran remains prepared to pursue a peaceful resolution while remaining fully capable of defending itself.

The top Iranian diplomat said the US President Donald Trump launched the joint US-Israeli aggression against Iran in late February “on the basis of fundamentally erroneous assumptions about Iran’s fortitude.”

“It appears that he continues to be wrongly told that our armed forces are unprepared to defend the homeland, despite all evidence to the contrary,” Araghchi said.

The Islamic Republic’s “fearless military has learnt valuable lessons from the acts of aggression committed by Israel and America since 2025,” he added.

Araghchi pointed to attacks carried out while Iran was engaged in negotiations with Washington, questioning how Tehran could “trust a US president again.”

“To state the obvious, we have no trust whatsoever in the sincerity of the US administration’s professed desire for peace with Iran,” he wrote.

He cited the US and Israeli attacks in June 2025 and February 2026, as well as another attack in June this year that came shortly after the US president and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the war.

Despite these concerns, Araghchi said Iran remained committed to giving diplomacy another chance.

At the recent United Nations General Assembly, he said, he presented Washington, through mediators, with a seven-day plan aimed at ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Under the proposal, he said, the United States “would not be expected to do anything that it has not already agreed to.”

The framework envisaged reopening the strategic waterway on the sixth day, followed by the resumption of negotiations on a final agreement on the seventh.

“If the plan is implemented, life in the region will begin to return to normal,” Araghchi wrote.

He said the spread of war across the region had demonstrated the risks to international peace and security, warning that further military aggression around the Strait of Hormuz or elsewhere could endanger civilian lives, regional stability and the global economy.

Araghchi also challenged Washington’s assessment of the economic consequences of the war against Iran, saying the White House had failed to acknowledge the growing living costs for ordinary Americans.

He further pointed to damage inflicted by Iranian armed forces on US military bases across the region, as well as the loss of military equipment, as evidence of the war’s consequences for American interests.

On the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi stated that alternative routes could not replace the waterway’s importance to the regional and global economy.

“The good news is that Iran intends to honour its historic role as a guardian of the Strait and those who lawfully traverse it,” he wrote.

Araghchi warned that further military aggression would not resolve the situation, pointing to the United States’ failure to achieve its publicly stated objectives after nearly eight months of war on Iran.