Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared on Sunday that Iran sees “no limit” to its right to self-defense following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in coordinated US-Israeli strikes, rejecting President Donald Trump’s warnings against retaliation and framing the military response as a matter of national survival.
‘Nobody Can Tell Us’ Not to Defend Ourselves
Speaking on ABC News’ “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, Araghchi drew a sharp distinction between what he called American “aggression” and Iran’s retaliatory actions. “What the United States is doing is an act of aggression. What we are doing is the act of self-defense. There are huge differences between these two,” he said.
Araghchi was responding to a post Trump made on his social media platform early Sunday, warning Iran against further retaliation. “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” Trump wrote.
“I don’t think any leader of a country has the right to say so,” Araghchi replied. “We are defending ourselves; whatever it takes; and we see no limit for ourselves to defend our people, to protect our people.”
Military Capability ‘Unchanged,’ Iran Says
Araghchi acknowledged the loss of commanders in the strikes but insisted that Iran’s military capacity remained intact. “We have lost some commanders, that is a fact, and the names are already announced. But another fact is that nothing has changed in our military capability,” he told Stephanopoulos. He said Iran’s forces had begun retaliating even faster than during its 12-day conflict with Israel in 2025, adding that they were now “in a better position” both in quality and quantity.
The strikes, launched Saturday under the codenames Operation Roaring Lion (Israel) and Operation Epic Fury (United States), killed Khamenei along with several family members and senior officials including Ali Shamkhani, a former National Security Council secretary, according to Reuters. Iranian state media confirmed Khamenei’s death early Sunday, and the government declared 40 days of mourning.
Diplomacy in Ruins
Asked whether a negotiated settlement was still possible, Araghchi expressed deep bitterness. “We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months, and in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of the negotiation,” he said, calling the experience a source of profound mistrust. He accused unnamed parties of deliberately sabotaging diplomacy to drag Trump into an unprovoked attack, claiming “they convinced President Trump to attack us unprovoked and unwarranted”.
Iran has already launched retaliatory missiles and drones toward Israeli and US military positions in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, according to the Associated Press, while further explosions rocked Tehran as Israel continued strikes on the capital.
Reference – abcnews.com
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