Abbas Araghchi says he has kept on the move since being pulled from rubble after strike on first day of war
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described how he was pulled from the rubble of a leadership compound after the US-Israeli airstrike that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, and has survived since by constantly moving around the capital, Tehran, by car.
In an interview with the Iranian journalist Javad Mogouyi, Araghchi confirmed Israel and the US had accurate intelligence on the location of Khamenei and other officials, enabling them to target Iran’s senior leadership.
He said he had yet to meet the country’s new leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, but said his appointment sent “a very important message to the world that there would be no change in the regime’s policies and ideals”.
Speaking to Mogouyi before the resumption of all-out hostilities 10 days ago, Araghchi said he had always doubted that negotiations with the US earlier this year would work, but said they had been necessary, even if there was only a 10% chance of success – not least to ensure there was no room for doubt that Iran had pursued diplomacy. “No one would be able to tell us that it was our fault,” he said.
