Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lied about Tehran's ambitions to put the United States in range of its missiles to dupe Washington into a new attack.
Netanyahu said in an interview with right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro on Monday that Iran is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of about 8,000 kilometers, warning that Tehran’s expanding weapons program could threaten major American cities.
The Iranian missiles could “put New York City, Boston, Washington or Miami under their atomic guns," the Israeli prime minister said.
“Israel ... finally managed to deceive the US into attacking the Iranian People," Araghchi said in response on X, referring to Israeli and US attacks on Iran in June. "With the failure of that action, Israel is now trying to make an imaginary threat out of our defense capabilities.”
"By now, Americans have had enough of fighting Israel's Forever Wars," he added.
Referring to ultimately incorrect US intelligence assessments about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Araghchi said the consequences were disastrous.
“There was never any ‘intelligence’ that Iraq was hiding WMDs. There was only unfathomable destruction, thousands of dead American soldiers, and seven trillion American taxpayer dollars down the drain,” Araghchi wrote on X.
Araghchi said that after several rounds of indirect talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, a deal with Iran was within reach in late May, as long as Tehran's demand that it be allowed to enrich uranium was heeded.
The Trump administration had set a 60-day deadline for reaching a new agreement with Iran. On day 61, June 13, Israel launched a surprise military campaign targeting Iran’s senior military and nuclear officials and facilities. The attacks also killed hundreds of civilians.
The United States joined the campaign on June 22 with strikes on nuclear sites in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
US President Donald Trump said Iran's nuclear program had been "obliterated", a view Araghchi contested.
“Buildings and machines can be destroyed, but our determination will never be shaken. Doubling down on that miscalculation does not resolve anything,” he said.
Araghchi urged Washington to return to diplomacy, saying, “Iran is a great country and Iranians are a great nation — the heirs of a great and ancient civilization ... There is NO solution but a negotiated outcome.”
Progress on resolving the lingering impasse has stalled after the June combat.
Iranian officials have said US peace demands, including that Tehran end enrichment and curb its missile program, are non-starters.
