WANA (Jan 15) – Iran’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, told Fox News host Bret Baier that President Trump should “not repeat the mistake he made in June,” noting that “if you retry a failed experience, you will inevitably get the same result.”

 

Speaking about recent terrorist attacks inside Iran, Araghchi said the terror cells, externally directed, “followed ISIS-style methods, killing military personnel and civilians alike.” He added that they “burned security officers and police alive, beheaded them, and opened fire on both police forces and the public.”

 

“We fought terrorists for three days, not protesters,” he stated, arguing that the militants fired on civilians “to increase casualties and drag Trump into the confrontation,” which, he asserted, was “precisely the plan of the Israeli regime.”

 

The Foreign Minister said that what Iran faced from 8–10 January was “a large-scale terrorist operation,” which he described as “the continuation of the 12-day war launched by the United States and Israel.” “January 8 (last Thursday) was the thirteenth day of that war,” he said.

 

Araghchi added that calm had been restored after three days of terrorist operations and that “the situation is now fully under control.” He expressed hope that “rationality will prevail” and that the parties would not “move toward a higher level of escalation,” warning that such a path “could be catastrophic for everyone.”

 

Responding to a question about what message he had for Trump, Araghchi said: “Don’t repeat the mistake you made in June. You know that if you retry a failed experience, you will get the same outcome. You destroyed facilities and machines (centrifuges), but you cannot bomb technology, determination or resolve.”

 

He stressed that Iran had “proven for 20 years” that it is ready for negotiation and diplomacy, and claimed that “it has always been the United States that walked away from diplomacy, cut off dialogue and chose the option of war.”

 

“My message to President Trump is that between war and diplomacy, diplomacy is the better path,” Araghchi said. “Despite the lack of positive experience with the United States, diplomacy is far better than war.”