Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was not interested in a ceasefire with the United States and Israel in an appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
Araghchi called for his country "to continue fighting for the sake of our people."
The foreign minister blamed the United States for violating last year's ceasefire that ended the 12-day war with Israel.
"And now you want to ask for a ceasefire again? This doesn't work like this," Araghchi said. "There needs to be a permanent end to the war. Unless we get to that, I think we need to continue fighting for the sake of our people and our security."
Araghchi charged that the U.S. and Israel, "are killing our people, they are killing girl students, you know, they are attacking hospitals."
Amid reports of Russia providing intelligence to Iran to help it locate American warships, Araghchi said, "Cooperation between Iran and Russia is not something new, it's not a secret."
"They are helping us in many different directions. I don't have any detailed information," he said.
After Iran issued an apology for launching attacks against its neighbors in the Gulf Saturday, Araghchi said the strikes were unintentional.
"We are attacking American bases, American installations, American assets, which are unfortunately located in the soils of our neighbors," Araghchi said.
He said the apology was for "the inconveniences they have faced because of this aggression by the United States and retaliation by us."
Araghchi dismissed any concerns about the U.S. deploying ground troops to Iran.
"We have very brave soldiers who are waiting for any enemy who enters into our soil, to fight with them and to kill them and destroy them," Araghchi said.
He also rejected claims amplified by President Donald Trump that Iran would soon have missiles capable of reaching the U.S.
"This is in fact misinformation," Araghchi said. "You know, we have capability to produce missiles, but we have intentionally limited ourselves to below 2,000 kilometers of range because we don't want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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