 "A fireball rises from the site of an Israeli air strike in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut on March 9, 2026. (AFP)")
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has ruled out the possibility of a ceasefire with the US, after China, France and Russia reached out to Tehran to talk about a possible peace deal.
“Even if they [US and Israel] request a ceasefire, this has to be put forward when Iran is certain they will not attack again, and they have accepted responsibility for their actions. They cannot just come to us and say ceasefire, and we say OK,” he said.
Gharibabadi added, “We have the upper hand. Their plans have failed, and they haven’t reached their goals. Iran has seriously damaged Israel and the US. Look at the state of global energy and the global economy. We have the upper hand, and we will decide when the war will end.”
His comments come after US President Donald Trump said that the Iran war “will be finished pretty quickly” as the conflict has rallied global oil prices in its second week.
“Within a week they were going to attack us 100%. They were ready. They had all these missiles far more than anyone thought, and they were going to attack us, but they were going to attack all of the Middle East and Israel,” Trump said in a speech in Miami.
“We know them all, and we’re knocking the hell out of that. Now, where they manufacture the drones. A lot of work, a lot of brilliant work. But we’re going to have a much safer world as soon as it’s finished, and it’s going to be finished pretty quickly,” the president continued.
Quick Reads
View AllMeanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday his country would keep fighting as long as necessary, casting doubt on Trump’s insistence that the conflict would be over “soon.”
In an interview, Araghchi told PBS News, “the firings continues, and we are prepared. We are well prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes.”