Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told The National: "We don't believe in a ceasefire. We believe in ending the war on all fronts"1. Iran's conditions: the United States must halt all attacks, commit to never repeating them, withdraw every military base from the region, and pay reparations. Araghchi denied any contact with Washington — directly contradicting Trump's repeated assertions that Tehran wants a deal.
Four days earlier, Araghchi had stated "this war must end" — the first Iranian formulation that described an end-state rather than simply rejecting talks. Before that, he told CBS that Iran had "never asked for a ceasefire". The trajectory — flat refusal, then conditional opening, then maximalist demands — tracked events on the ground. The hardening came after Israel killed three members of The Supreme Leader's inner circle in 48 hours, including Ali Larijani, who had served as nuclear negotiator, Parliament speaker, judiciary chief, and SNSC secretary across four decades of Iranian statecraft.
The conditions are not improvised wartime demands. Iran has sought the removal of American forces from The Gulf since 1979. President Carter declared in January 1980 that any attempt to gain control of The Persian Gulf would be "repelled by any means necessary, including military force" — establishing a military presence that every subsequent administration has maintained. Araghchi is demanding as a condition of peace what Iran has failed to achieve through 46 years of confrontation.
Whether Araghchi speaks for anyone with authority over war-and-peace decisions is itself unresolved. Pezeshkian's civilian government has operated on a visibly separate track from the IRGC since the conflict began. The officials who bridged that gap are dead: Larijani, killed on 16 March, connected civilian institutions to the security establishment; Intelligence Minister Khatib, killed hours before this interview, linked internal security to the IRGC's overseas operations. The question is no longer only what terms Iran would accept — it is whether anyone remaining in Tehran is positioned to negotiate them.
