Iran says it’s ready for ‘doomsday’ onslaught of U.S. attacks after Trump rejects ceasefire deal
by Susan Ferrechio · The Washington TimesIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will not back down on the terms of a ceasefire offer rejected by President Trump, “even if it comes to a doomsday war.”
Mr. Araghchi said he is waiting for the president, through U.S. mediators, to officially respond to Iran’s terms for a ceasefire. Mr. Trump flatly rejected the offer Saturday, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Sunday that Mr. Trump does not trust the Iranians to hold up their end of the deal.
“The president’s just not confident that the Iranians are coming in good faith and that they will truly negotiate the end of their nuclear program,” the ambassador said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
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Mr. Araghchi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian appeared on separate Sunday talk shows. Both officials complained that the United States cannot be trusted and is standing in the way of an accord to end the fighting.
“Every day, they increase the sanctions against us. Every day, they threaten us. Every day, they strike us. And they don’t honor what they have put in writing,” Mr. Pezeshkian said in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” recorded Friday. “They don’t honor what they’ve signed. How can we believe that if we talk, the problem would get resolved?”
Iran offered to open the Strait of Hormuz, a major choke point for oil tankers, as part of a new ceasefire deal.
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The Iranian offer would first require the United States to release $12 billion in frozen assets, lift Iranian oil sanctions and end the blockade of Iranian ports, among other conditions.
Mr. Araghchi told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that when Iran’s conditions are met, which he said would take four or five days, “on Day 6 the strait would be open.” He said the two sides would resume talks on a permanent deal “on Day 7.”
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Iran made its offer days after Mr. Trump threatened in a United Nations address to “annihilate the Islamic republic, and do it quickly,” if Tehran fails to agree to a deal with the United States to end the war and open the strait.
Iran was not backing down on the ceasefire demands, even in the face of Mr. Trump’s threat, Mr. Araghchi said.
“We stand firm in the face of any challenge, any aggression against us, even if it comes to a doomsday war,” Mr. Araghchi said. “At the same time, we are ready for diplomacy. And now there is a reasonable plan on the table. If they reject it with no reason, this is their fault.”
Mr. Araghchi said the Iranians “trust ourselves,” and not the United States.
“We are ready for diplomacy. We are ready for war at the same time. They had tested us in both cases; they tested us in their aggression twice, and they are welcome if they want to test us once again,” he said.
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Mr. Waltz told CNN that the United States rejected the deal because Iran “was asking for everything up front” and was not trustworthy.
He said Tehran quickly violated the memorandum of understanding signed this summer between the United States and Iran, and soon after signing it, launched drone attacks against commercial cargo ships in the strait.
The ambassador denounced the Iranian’s ceasefire offer in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“This was, I think, a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable,” Mr. Waltz said.
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Mr. Trump first rejected the deal Saturday in remarks to reporters.
“They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly. … We’re winning tremendously,” the president said. “They want to make a deal, and I think that’s fine. I like making a deal too, but that deal would not be acceptable. … What they want to do is immediately open the Hormuz Strait. You know why? Because they’re dying. You know why they’re dying? Because they have no money coming in.”
Iran will not be able to sell oil to China thanks to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and will have nothing left to trade, “probably in the next two weeks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday.
“There are only 15 million more barrels of Iranian oil on the water, then Iran will have nothing left to trade for anything,” Mr. Bessent said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “I believe they are feeling the pressure here, and that’s why they want a deal.”
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Mr. Bessent said Iran is seeking a ceasefire deal because “they are on their knees,” economically, amid U.S. sanctions, and the Trump administration’s move last week deprived countries of access to the U.S. dollar if they service or fuel Iranian airliners.
Mr. Trump continues to threaten military action against Iran.
Mr. Waltz would not confirm a report in The Wall Street Journal that Mr. Trump would resume military strikes on Iran after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Mr. Waltz pointed to Mr. Trump’s address Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly, in which the president said the midterm elections, which threaten to put congressional Republicans back in the minority, were not influencing his negotiations with the Iranians for a ceasefire deal.
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“What I can tell you is the president will leave all options on the table to ensure the world is safe from Iran holding the world hostage with a nuclear weapon, No. 1. And No. 2, he was quite clear in his speech before the U.N. that politics have nothing to do with this,” Mr. Waltz said.
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Susan Ferrechio
sferrechio@washingtontimes.com
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