Iran’s foreign minister said Monday that his country was prepared for war but also ready to negotiate after President Trump warned that the United States might intervene to stop the government’s increasingly deadly crackdown on opposition protests.
“We are not looking for war, but we are prepared for war — even more prepared than the previous war,” Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, told a conference of foreign ambassadors in the capital, Tehran, broadcast by state television. He appeared to be referring to the 12-day war with Israel this past June, which the United States joined to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We are also ready for negotiations, but negotiations that are fair, with equal rights and mutual respect,” he added.
Iran also said on Monday that communication channels were open between Mr. Aragchi and Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy.
“Iran has never left the negotiating table, but it will not engage in one-sided negotiations,” Esmail Baghaei, a foreign ministry spokesman, told a news conference Monday.
The signal from Iranian authorities that they were open to diplomacy with the United States came after Mr. Trump threatened on Sunday that he might act militarily to curb the government’s repression of widespread demonstrations.
