Overview
- Hours after joint U.S.-Israeli operations began, President Trump urged Iranians to “take over” their government as NBC aired Araghchi’s response from Tehran.
- Araghchi said Iran is striking U.S. military bases in the region as self-defense, not targets inside the United States, and he pledged to stop if the attacks on Iran end.
- He rejected the prospect of regime change and pointed to large pro-government rallies, while reporting cited more than 7,000 deaths in recent unrest from HRANA and over 3,000 acknowledged by Iranian authorities.
- He stated that, as far as he knows, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is alive, other senior officials survived, and two commanders were killed.
- Araghchi said negotiators made progress in Geneva with U.S. envoys before the assault and that there is currently no communication, while media critics faulted NBC interviewers for not challenging several of his claims.