News | Israel-Iran conflict
Iran ready for war with Israel, will not halt nuclear programme: Pezeshkian
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Iran’s president insists Tehran’s uranium enrichment programme will continue.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has given his first televised interview since the end of last month's war with Israel [Al Jazeera]
By Al Jazeera Staff
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/2 ... pezeshkian
23 Jul 2025
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country is prepared for any war Israel might wage against it, adding he was not optimistic about the ceasefire between the countries, while confirming Tehran is committed to continuing its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes.
Pezeshkian made the comments in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera aired on Wednesday, one of his first since the end of the 12-day conflict https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/2 ... n-conflict with Israel last month, in which the United States intervened on Israel’s behalf, launching strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The comments come as Western nations say they are seeking a solution to Iran’s ongoing nuclear ambitions in the wake of the conflict, amid reports https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1 ... lear-sites that strikes on its nuclear facilities were less damaging than claimed by Washington.
Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera.We are fully prepared for any new Israeli military move, and our armed forces are ready to strike deep inside Israel again,
Iran was not relying on the ceasefire that ended the 12-day war to hold, he said.
said Pezeshkian.We are not very optimistic about it,
He added that Israel’s strikes, which assassinated leading military figures and nuclear scientists, and damaged nuclear facilities, had sought to “eliminate” Iran’s hierarchy,That is why we have prepared ourselves for any possible scenario and any potential response. Israel has harmed us, and we have also harmed it. It has dealt us powerful blows, and we have struck it hard in its depths, but it is concealing its losses.
More than 900 people were killed in Iran, large numbers of them civilians, and at least 28 people were killed in Israel before a ceasefire took hold on June 24. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/2 ... f-missilesbut it has completely failed to do so.
Enrichment programme will continue
Pezeshkian said Iran would continue its uranium enrichment programme despite international opposition, saying the development of its nuclear abilities would be carried out
within the framework of international laws.
he said.[US President Donald] Trump says that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and we accept this because we reject nuclear weapons and this is our political, religious, humanitarian and strategic position,
He said the claim from TrumpWe believe in diplomacy, so any future negotiations must be according to a win-win logic, and we will not accept threats and dictates.
that our nuclear programme is over is just an illusion.
he said.Our nuclear capabilities are in the minds of our scientists and not in the facilities,
Pezeshkian’s comments echoed earlier remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/2 ... n-to-talks in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News aired Monday that Tehran would never abandon its uranium enrichment programme, but was open to a negotiated solution to its nuclear ambitions, in which it would guarantee that the programme was for peaceful purposes in response for the lifting of sanctions.
Israel sought to ‘overthrow’ leadership
Pezeshkian also addressed an attempt https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1 ... eli-attack by Israel to assassinate him at a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council in Tehran on June 15, which was reported to have left him with minor injuries.
Asked about the assassination attempt, he said it had been part of a plan by Israeli commanders to target Iran’s political leadership in the wake of its assassination of senior military figures, in a bid
But the plan had failed, he said.to put the country into chaos in order to overthrow it completely.
He also stressed that Tehran’s strikes on Qatar’s Al Udeid base in the wake of US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities had not been an attack on Qatar and its people.
he said, adding that he had called https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/2 ... r-of-qatar Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the day of the strikes to explain his position.We do not even have a thought or imagination that there should be hostility or rivalry between us and the state of Qatar,
Talks with European powers to resumeI say clearly and honestly that we did not attack the State of Qatar, but we attacked a base for America that bombed our country while all our intentions towards Qatar and its people are good and positive.
Araghchi said on Monday that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization is still evaluating how the attacks last month had affected Iran’s enriched material, saying Tehran would soon inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its findings.
He said Iran had not stopped cooperation with the IAEA, adding that any request for the IAEA to send inspectors back to Iran would be “carefully considered”.
IAEA inspectors left Iran earlier this month after Pezeshkian signed a law https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/2 ... -with-iaea suspending cooperation with the agency.
Meanwhile, talks are set to take place https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/2 ... -on-friday between Iran, France, Germany and the UK in Turkiye on Friday.
The three European parties to the former Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/7/1 ... clear-deal which Tehran signed with several world powers in 2015 before the US pulled out in 2018, have said Tehran’s failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on it.