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Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that pursuing diplomacy with the United States had been the right course of action even before the two countries went to war, arguing that Tehran chose to engage knowing the chances of a breakthrough were slim.
Speaking in a televised interview, Abbas Araghchi said Iran had calculated that negotiations were worth attempting even if the probability of success was as low as one in ten.
"We said that perhaps, even with a 10% chance, we could reach an outcome other than war through negotiations, and we had to try that opportunity," he said.
Araghchi framed the decision to negotiate not as an expression of confidence in a deal, but as a strategic and moral imperative.
Iranian officials, he said, believed they needed to demonstrate to adversaries, to international observers, and to their own public that every diplomatic avenue had been exhausted before fighting broke out.
"We might not achieve a result, but at least we would have established our case before the enemy, the international community and our own people by demonstrating that we had tried every possible path," he said.
The foreign minister also addressed the broader logic behind choosing diplomacy over confrontation, noting that no country would voluntarily opt for war when negotiation remained viable.
"War has its own costs, and if any country can achieve its objectives through negotiations, it will certainly prefer that less dangerous and less costly path," he said.
Araghchi's comments reflect a broader Iranian effort to shape the narrative around a conflict that has left the country under sustained military and economic pressure.
By recasting the pre-war negotiations as a deliberate and principled choice rather than a sign of weakness, Iranian officials appear to be reinforcing domestic support for the government's handling of the crisis.
The foreign minister has in recent weeks also warned Washington that further threats would derail any path toward a final agreement under the existing memorandum of understanding, signaling that Tehran's willingness to stay at the table is conditional on a change in tone from the American side.
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