FULL | Deal, Only When Our Conditions Are Met: Iran FM Araghchi Tells Indian Media in Delhi Presser

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:01]Well, as uh you know, I'm here for uh bricks foreign minister's meeting.

[00:00:10]Before anything else, I have to I have to appreciate warm hospitality uh extended to me and my delegation by the Indian government and by my very good friend Minister Jay Shanka with whom I have a very good personal and working relations. We have been in touch in the past two months when the war was going on or better to say the act of aggression against my country was going on. We have been in close contact and consulted with each other.

[00:00:46]I should also thank the Indian government for excellent arrangements uh for this uh important bricks meeting uh and for the success uh of this meeting.

[00:01:04]We attach great importance to our relations with India.

[00:01:10]Iran and India are two ancient civilizations which have been which has have always had very good relations and we have exchanged uh our cultural values.

[00:01:34]We have had very good trade and economic cooperation with each other and very good political relations and political consultations and we are certainly determined to continue our friendly and good relations with India for the benefit of both sides and based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

[00:02:01]As you know, my country has been the victim of an act of aggression, unprovoked aggression by the United States and Israeli regime, which happened right in the middle of negotiations we had with Americans.

[00:02:22]And it was actually the second time that we started negotiation with the United States. And right in the middle of negotiations, in the middle of diplomacy, they decided to attack us.

[00:02:40]And that was very unfortunate.

[00:02:45]We appreciate all those countries who condemn this attack.

[00:02:51]We appreciate the government and people of India who expressed solidarity and sympathy towards the Iranian people and we appreciate the humanitarian assistance provided to us by the Indian government uh as a sign of solidarity and we are so happy about that.

[00:03:17]As you all know, we are now in the state of uh ceasefire.

[00:03:23]Although it's very it's very shaky, but we are trying to keep it in order to give diplomacy a chance. So a diplomatic solution, a negotiated solution can be found.

[00:03:39]As a matter of fact, there is no military solution to anything related to Iran.

[00:03:47]They have tested us times and again we never bow to any pressure or threat and we resist against any aggression against any pressure.

[00:04:03]He also resists against any sanction.

[00:04:09]For more than 40 years, my country has been the target of our people. Actually have had been the target of uh brutal sanctions imposed by the United States against us. But it didn't change our determination.

[00:04:25]It didn't change our policies.

[00:04:29]Iranian people only answer to the language of respect as we did in the past.

[00:04:42]Anytime they approached us with the language of respect, offered diplomacy, offered negotiation, we have reciprocated the same language and we have answered positively to any diplomatic solution.

[00:05:01]Now after 40 days of war when the US became hopeless of achieving any goal in their aggression against Iran they offered negotiation.

[00:05:17]We are interested in negotiation but only if the other side is serious and is in line of real negotiations.

[00:05:36]We have no trust to Americans. This is a fact and this is the m this is the main obstacle in the way of any diplomatic effort.

[00:05:46]I think all of you know that we have every reason not to trust Americans while they have no reason not to trust us.

[00:05:56]In 2015, we made a nuclear deal with Americans together with other members of the security council and Germany, the so-called P5+1.

[00:06:11]We negotiated for more than two years almost two and a half years and we came to a very good deal and the whole celebrated that the whole world celebrated that as an achievement of diplomacy.

[00:06:29]But only one year after only one year after it was concluded, the new US administration, which was the first term of Trump administration, withdrew from that deal with no justification, with no reason.

[00:06:47]While Iran was fully committed to all of its obligations in that deal, which is known as JCPOA.

[00:06:59]And then in 2025 in June again we entered into negotiation with them.

[00:07:08]After five rounds of negotiation they decided to attack us and we had 12 days of war in last year. This year again they offered negotiation and we had three rounds of negotiations.

[00:07:28]First in Mascat and then two times in Geneva.

[00:07:33]The last round was in 26th February.

[00:07:37]and the Omani foreign minister, my dear friend Bad Al-Busedi, who mediated those negotiations, he posted a tweet and said that we made significant progress. I'm sure you have seen his tweet.

[00:07:57]And it's interesting that before he posted his tweet, he showed that to both delegations, Iranian and US delegations.

[00:08:06]And the US delegation confirmed that yes, we made significant progress today and hopefully we can conclude a deal very soon. But only two days after on 28th February, they made an aggression together with Israelis against my people.

[00:08:27]So the most important issue right now is the question of trust.

[00:08:32]We cannot trust Americans at all. So everything should be exact. Everything should be defined very clearly before we can conclude a deal.

[00:08:46]We have resisted in a very brutal war against my people.

[00:08:52]They couldn't achieve any any of their goals.

[00:09:00]And it is obvious that those things they have not been able to achieve militarily they cannot they cannot achieve on negotiation table unless there is a win-win solution achieved.

[00:09:22]So the current negotiation is suffering from the lack of trust. It is also suffering from contradictory messages we receive from Americans.

[00:09:39]Every day is different from the other day, from yesterday.

[00:09:44]A tweet today is different from yesterday's tweet.

[00:09:48]Sometimes in one day we receive two different messages.

[00:09:54]And this is the problem.

[00:09:57]and add to the question of mistrust.

[00:10:04]We we know that there are also some spoilers who try to derail diplomacy.

[00:10:12]It's a fact. the wararmongers who want to drag the US again into another war.

[00:10:23]And I hope that wisdom and diplomacy would finally prevail and we go in line of diplomacy to find the negotiator solution. There is no solution but a negotiated one.

[00:10:44]It's a fact.

[00:10:48]So with this brief comments I am available for any question.

[00:11:16]from the newspaper. How do you view India's relationship with UAE context?

[00:11:24]>> The United Arab Emirates.

[00:11:27]So our relation >> India's relation with the United States.

[00:11:32]>> So what is the question?

[00:11:34]>> How do you view it?

[00:11:38]>> Even the fact that well the voice is not very good. So uh India has relations with so many countries.

[00:11:52]uh and this is actually uh related to India to decide for its relations. What matters for us is good relations which exist between us and India and as I said it is rooted in history and it is rooted in old uh political, economic and cultural relations we have always had and we are determined to continue our good relations with India. Excellency Zaka from Times now. My question is yesterday President Trump and President Xiinping of China met and they issued a statement in which the Americans said that both China and America said that Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon and that both China and America agreed that the straight host should be open. What do you have to say to that?

[00:12:45]>> Well, we share the same opinion.

[00:12:48]Iran has never wanted nuclear weapon and we have proved that when we signed the deal in 2015 and we have said times and again that we don't want nuclear weapon and uh this is not our policy. We have a peaceful nuclear program and we have always been ready to build to make confidence that this program is peaceful and would remain peaceful on the street of hormones. This is also our wish that it would be fully reopened.

[00:13:31]As far as we are concerned, the street of hormones is open and all vessels can pass except except the vessels belonged to those countries who are in in war with us, who are fighting with us. Those vessels who want to pass should obviously coordinate with our military because of the uh you know uh minds and you know obstacles which exist. So we will guide them to pass as we have done for a num number of Indian vessels and we help them to pass. The safe passage of all vessels is uh our policy and our and in our interest and we are ready to help those who want to pass safely and securely.

[00:14:19]This is our policy. At the same time we have the blockade by the US. We have insecurity in the region because of the US aggression.

[00:14:28]So obviously the situation is not like the past but once the aggression is ended then I'm sure everything would go back to normal and we make sure we make arrangements for the safe passage of all uh vessels from the straight of foremost together with Oman. As all of you know, Iran and Oman are two coastal countries in in both in two sides of the straight of Hormos. The strait is located in territorial waters of Iran and Oman.

[00:15:06]There is no international waters in between. So it should be everything should be managed by Iran and Oman and this is what we are now consulting with each other to make sure that the arrangements uh that that there would be a good administration in the formos in the future which guarantees the safe passes passage of all vessels from my question about the joint declaration in which has been called out about Gaza at Yeah. And illegal occation.

[00:15:40]>> Please don't choose metro from Gaz.

[00:15:43]>> Yeah.

[00:15:44]>> Israel has been called out for it aggression in Gaza and its illegal occupation in West Bank. But there's a mention that a member state had a reservation about that. Can we know which member state is that? And also we haven't seen any any reference to US Israel aggression against Iran. Why is that?

[00:16:01]>> Well, you have to ask the president of this of this meeting to answer that question. I'm not uh uh in charge to answer those questions but I think everybody knows that which country blocked anything against Israel and that was very unfortunate. The same country uh did help the US and Israel in their attack in their aggression against Iran.

[00:16:29]The same country provided the US and Israeli forces with their airspace, with their territories, with their military bases.

[00:16:39]And as far as we are concerned, they are in a direct party to this aggression and should be held responsible.

[00:16:50]>> So from sir, I'm Sudhan from beyond. My question to you is what conversation you had with the external affair minister earlier today. What conversation was on hormones especially given the fact that there are Indian vessels still in the hormones. Will they be allowed to move as soon as possible because it's impacting the energy prices here in India? Well, yesterday I had a very good uh uh brief discussion with Prime Minister Modi and today a lengthy meeting with uh Minister Jishankar. We uh discussed about uh almost everything including the state of Hormos and the situation in the in the Persian Gulf region.

[00:17:35]uh we I have to say that we have more or less close positions and we have uh you know same concerns and same interests in this important region. So we continue to coordinate with our Indian colleagues. As I said the situation in the state of Hormos is very complicated right now and we are trying to help uh ships to pass safely.

[00:18:07]Uh everything would go back to normal once the act of aggression is totally and completely ended.

[00:18:18]Minister Vishnu Sho from NPTV. Welcome to our country. Um there is as Sadhhat was mentioning a great deal of concern about the flow of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf to India. Uh is Iran not willing to get into an agreement with New Delhi to allow the sustained movement of Indian ships from the Persian Gulf to India?

[00:18:40]Well, India has been u a customer of Iranian oil in the past and uh it has been stopped by Indian by India because of the US sanctions, US illegal unilateral sanctions. So we are obviously interested to continue uh our uh business in oil, oil business, energy business and we are ready to sell our oil to India. Uh of course we do understand their considerations uh and we do understand the consequences of the sanctions which are imposed by the US. So we we have no problem. It's up to the Indian government to decide.

[00:19:25]uh but I believe that uh uh once the sanctions are lifted uh we will immediately go back to the same volume of trade that we had with each other.

[00:19:38]You know before those sanctions we used to have more than 20 billion dollars of business and trade with India. Uh for for now it is uh uh much smaller but it's still in billions of dollars. So Iran and India have always good trade and business relations. I'm sure uh the capacity between the two is really high and uh we can go back to same volume that we used to have or even higher as soon as sanctions are lifted.

[00:20:22]>> Okay, thank you from agency. Sir, yesterday you met uh your Russian counterpart um uh did you discuss the offer which uh Russian officials have on the table regarding the removing uranium from Iranian territory to Russia? What is your current position on this offer from Russia side and can be this offer crucial in resolving this deadlock in negotiations?

[00:20:58]Iran and US.

[00:21:00]>> Well, yes. Yesterday I had a very good meeting with uh Sergey Lavr. Uh I have to say that we have always consulted with our Russian friends. We have uh a very good relation uh strategic partnership and we have always consulted with each other regarding all international, regional and bilateral issues. Uh I met President Putin in St. Petersburg about I think 10 days ago, less than two weeks ago and we discussed everything including the question that you mentioned. We are thankful to our Russian friends for their uh offer and for their uh you know intention to help the resolution of this problem. Of course, this is something that we have to decide during the negotiations.

[00:21:57]uh this the the the uh you know the subject of our enriched material is a very complicated one and we have now come to the conclusion with Americans that since it is very difficult we are almost in a deadlock on this particular question uh let's postpone it to this to the later stages of our negotiations so for the time being it is not under discussion uh it's not under negotiation but we will come to that subject in later stages and when it comes to when we come to that stage obviously we would have more consultations with with Russia and we see if the Russian offer can help or not this is not something for the time being >> s excellency leaders from news in India you are you are also part of negotiation. My question to you is that what are the what are the main issues preventing an end to the conflict between your country and USA?

[00:23:04]>> I think I already answered that question. The most important question is the question of mistrust or the lack of trust from our side to to Americans and I explained the reasons of that mistrust.

[00:23:17]Uh another issue is or another problem is the as I said contradictory messages uh which uh has made us reluctant uh about the real intentions of Americans for uh in these negotiations. We are in doubt about their seriousness. But the moment we feel that they are serious and they are ready for a fair and balanced deal, we certainly proceed in the course of negotiations.

[00:24:03]Minister, thank you for doing this from the Hindustan Times. I wanted to ask you basically about meeting it's very clear that there was no agreement on joint statement largely because of the differences between uh do you believe that by the time the summit is held in September to these differences? And number two, the prime minister has just said a little while ago in UAE that India is ready to do everything to help bring peace to West Asia. What role would you like to be able to play in this process?

[00:24:40]Well, as a matter of fact, uh the the final statement by uh BRIC's ministerial meeting uh was blocked or some parts of that was blocked by a member state uh which has its own uh special relations with Israel and this is very unfortunate.

[00:25:08]We have no difficulty with that certain country.

[00:25:13]They have not been our target in in the current war. We only hit American military bases and American military installations which are unfortunately in their soil.

[00:25:31]So the only reason they stopped the final statement was their support to Israel and the United States in their aggression against Iran which is very very unfortunate.

[00:25:44]I hope by the time that we come for the summit uh they come to a good understanding that that Iran is a neighbor. We have to live with each other.

[00:25:59]We have lived for centuries and we have to to live for centuries to come.

[00:26:07]Israelis cannot protect them. Americans cannot pro protect them. That was proved during this war. The American military bases their relation with the with Israel became the source of insecurity.

[00:26:20]Instead of become the source of security instead of protecting them, it was a source of insecurity for them. So these are the realities that uh they should understand and I'm sure uh if they follow uh the line of wisdom they will found Iran as a good neighbor and a good part and a good partner.

[00:26:45]>> Mr. foreign minister from India today wrote my question to you is that yesterday President Donald Trump in an interview said that he discussed the issue of the state of homos and Iran issue with the Chinese president Xin wherein he said that uh you know Chinese president is ready to help to mediate some kind of solution. Are you open to that process and has the process uh of Pakistan mediated solution has failed so far and uh related question that what steps are being taken by Iran to facilitate the the more or the faster movement of the vessels those who are stuck in Gulf of Persia including level Indian ships.

[00:27:21]Well, the mediation process by Pakistan has not been failed yet, but it is in a very difficult course uh mostly because of the Americans behavior and their uh and the mistrust which exists between us. Uh we appreciate any country who has the ability to help particularly China. China has been helpful in the past in the resumption of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

[00:27:51]uh we have very good relations with China. They are uh we are strategic partners to each other and we know that Chinese have a good intention.

[00:28:02]Uh so anything that can be done by them to help diplomacy would be welcomed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Uh well, we hope that uh by the advancement of negotiations, we come to a good conclusion. So the straight of hormones would be uh completely secured and we can expedite the normalization of traffic uh in that straight.

[00:28:41]news agency s Russia Russian foreign minister has said that India should play a long medation role in bringing peace to the region do you is there any concrete talk on these lines during your interaction and also second part what is the status of ports on that >> well Chabahar port is one of the symbol symb symbols of cooperation between Iran and India And we are so glad that chi that Indians played an important role in the development of that port. Uh it is now somehow uh you know slowed down because of the US sanctions but I am confident that uh this port would be uh like a golden gate for India to access central Asia, the caucuses and then Europe through this transit route and also for Europeans, Central Asians and others to access Indian Ocean. It is a strategic port important for both us and India and many other countries. So I hope that Indians would continue their work uh in this uh in in Chabahar port so it would be fully developed at the service of the interests of India and other countries around.

[00:30:22]Uh I think India uh with its good reputation can play a greater role in this region to help diplomacy to help peace and to promote peace and security.

[00:30:40]India is a friend to almost to to all countries in the Persian Gulf uh in in north of the this uh this Gulf and in the southern part of that. So we appreciate any positive constructive role played by India in this region.

[00:31:55]for diplomacy.

[00:32:42]Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.

[00:32:52]Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.

[00:33:14]for this man. I work for PD news.

[00:33:41]Uh so thank you for doing this. Uh the conflict has triggered uh large scale economic uh uh disruptions globally and as it as things stand today are you hopeful of a negotiated settlement or is there a possibility of the conflict prolonging and also a kind of risk of resumption of military hostilities between two sides?

[00:34:04]>> Well, both possibilities are there.

[00:34:06]First of all, this is not our war. We have not initiated this war. It was started by Americans and Israelis. That was an act of aggression.

[00:34:19]And what we are doing is and what we did actually was the act of self-defense.

[00:34:25]So all consequences for the international economy for the at the regional level, international level is not our fault. This is the result of aggression by by Americans.

[00:34:38]Uh well as I said the chance for having a diplomatic settlement or going back to a full scale war is there. I cannot say half and half. As a diplomat I am optimistic that the diplomatic solution can prevail but we we shouldn't ignore the possibility of going back to a full scale war. We as Islamic Republic of Iran are prepared for both scenarios.

[00:35:07]We are prepared to go back to fighting and we know how to defend ourselves and we proved that in in these 40 days of war and we are also ready for diplomacy and a diplomatic solution and we are also know what we want and what we can do and what we can achieve. If may I ask one supplement question?

[00:35:30]President Trump has said that he's running out of patience. So what would be your reply?

[00:35:36]>> Well, this is not my fault that he's running out of patient. He he has he has to answer. You know this is not a question of patient or not. We are dealing with a serious serious question.

[00:35:51]This is a question of war and peace. So if they want a negoti negotiated solution they have to be patient because it needs complicated detailed negotiations in order to come to a justful solution. If they want to go back to war it's up to them. They have tested us they can test us again but the results would not be any different news.

[00:36:32]There was a lot of hope attached to Islam.

[00:36:35]Why have they failed to achieve any?

[00:36:40]>> Well, uh there is a still hope. We couldn't achieve a deal in Islamabad when we met.

[00:36:49]uh mostly because of the maximalist positions by the United States and by their uh we know well-known behavior that they always shift the goalpost at the very end of negotiations. So we are familiar with those tactics and uh we cannot accept anything beyond a fair and balanced deal. This is why we couldn't achieve a deal in Islamabad and uh we are still in the process of talks but talk uh a deal can be achieved only when our conditions are met.

[00:37:35]>> My name is I'm from the bank. I have a question that India including other countries are facing severe energy crisis despite sanctions. Do you agree to provide energy to India and are you hopeful that soon air traffic will occur?

[00:37:58]>> Well, I think on on energy cooperation everything is clear. uh we are ready to provide India with uh energy resources if the India is ready to uh make a business with us.

[00:38:16]Well, thank you everybody. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed that.