Iran foreign minister reacts to Trump saying he'll pick the next leader of Iran: Full interview

Welcome back. And joining me now is the foreign minister of Iran, Abbas Arachi. Mr. Foreign Minister, welcome to Meet the Press. >> Well, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you very much for being here. I have to ask you the big question on everyone's mind. Who is in charge in Iran right now? Well, it is uh already known uh the the council of the the interim leadership council is now in charge uh and they are doing their act in the absence of the leader while a new supreme leader is uh going to be elected soon by the assembly of experts and the president and the cabinet are also in their are doing their duties. parliament, every everything is in in is in uh its place. >> Well, there are reports this morning that the Iranian Assembly of Experts has come to a decision on a new Supreme Leader for Iran. Many have suggested it would be the son of the late Supreme Leader Moshtaba Kami. Will he be the next leader of Iran? >> Well, nobody knows. Actually there are lots of rumors around but uh you know we have to wait for the assembly of experts to convene and and vote for the new supreme leader and the one who uh is elected by then. >> Do you think he should be the next leader of Iran? >> Well anybody which is elected by the assembly of experts would be the next uh supreme leader of Iran. And as you know the assembly office the members of the assembly are already you know elected by directly by the people. >> All right. Well, President Trump says he should pick the new leader of Iran. Will Iran allow President Trump to have any role in picking its new leader? >> We allow nobody to interfere in our uh domestic affairs. This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader. They have already elected the assembly of experts and the assembly of experts would do the job. It is uh the only the business of the Iranian people and nobody else business. >> President Trump says there will be no deal with Iran except for quote unconditional surrender. Will Iran agree to unconditional surrender for the sake of bringing this war to an end? Mr. Foreign Minister Well, this is what he asked previous time last year in June. Uh that when Israel Israel started to attack us, uh we know President Trump used the same phrase, unconditional surrender. That was a tweet he made and and that didn't happen. We resisted and after 12 days uh Israelis asked for unconditional ceasefire. So we never give up. We never surround uh and we continue to resist as long as it takes. We continue to defend ourselves and we are defending our territory, our people and our dignity. And our dignity is not for sale. Well, let me ask you because what conditions would Iran accept to bring this war to an end? >> Well, uh actually we are not at that point yet. Uh obviously this time is different from the previous time. Last time we accepted the ceasefire. Uh but you know this time is quite different. Uh and the the reason is obvious. You know, last time they attacked us, they made aggression against us, they killed our people, they destroyed our places and then asked for a ceasefire. And we accepted out of good faith because we were only exercising the the you know the act of self-defense. And when the aggression was stopped, we stopped too. But uh you know, it didn't it didn't bring about peace. And now this year they again started to attack us and again they have you know they are killing our people. They are killing you know G students uh you know they are attacking hospitals uh you know freshwater dalinations you know refineries uh you know everywhere people have been killed, places have been destroyed and now they want to ask for a ceasefire again. Well, this this doesn't work like this. So, there should be a permanent end of the war. And unless we get to that, I think we need to uh you know uh continue fighting for for the sake of our people and our security. >> We are going to get to the reports about some of the deaths in just a moment. But just to stay on this topic, would Iran ever agree to a ceasefire to get back to the negotiating table to end all of this military conflict? >> Well, they have to explain why they started this aggression before we come to the point to cons to even consider a ceasefire. Of course, nobody wants to continue this war. This is not our war. This is not our, you know, the war of our choice. This is imposed on us by the United States, by Israelis. They have, you know, started this war unprovoked, unwarranted, illegally. And what we are doing is is an illegal is legal act of self-defense and we have every right to do that. So it is not fair that if they that if only stops the aggression and ask us to stop too. Uh you know as I said this time is different. Let me ask you about some of what Iran has been doing. Iran has launched hundreds of missiles at 13 other nations in the region. On Saturday, the Iranian president apologized for those strikes on neighboring Gulf states. Was it a mistake for Iran to attack its neighbors? >> Well, uh it it is a mistake if you consider that Iran is attacking its neighbors. No, we are not attacking our neighbors. We are attacking American bases, American uh you know installations, American assets which are unfortunately located in the soils of our neighbors. So we are not attacking our neighbors. We are attacking Americans who are attacking us. We are retaliating. We have not started this war. It is Americans who started this war against us. Attacking us and we are defending ourselves. So our it is obvious that our missiles cannot reach the the US soil. What we can do is to attack American bases and American installations around us which are unfortunately in the soils of our you know neighborly countries. >> But Mr. Foreign Minister, if you're not attacking your neighbors, why did the Iranian president apologize? Well, first of all, apology in our culture is a sign of dignity and strength. Secondly, he apologized from the people peoples of the region for the inconveniences they have faced because of this aggression by the United States and retaliation by us. So as a matter of fact, it is it is in fact the the president of the United States who should apologize from peoples of the people of the region and Iranian people for the killings and destructions they have done again done against us. >> Let me ask you because NBC News is reporting that Iran is receiving help from Russia to help locate US forces. Are you receiving any help from Russia? Well, uh, we have a strategic partnership with with Russia. >> So, that's a yes. >> And, uh, well, a military cooperation between Iran and Russia is not something new. It's not it's not a secret. It has been in the past and it's still there and will continue in in the future. >> Is Russia helping you locate US forces? I just want to be very clear here. >> Well, I don't have exact military information. Uh as far as I know we have a very good uh partnership with Russia. >> So they are helping you they are providing intelligence. >> Well they are they are helping us in many different directions. Uh I don't have any detailed information. >> Okay let's move to the strike on the elementary school in southern Iran. It killed more than 170 people including many children. President Trump said Iran is responsible for that strike. What is your response to what the president said? >> Well, it is it is uh you know funny. Uh it is our school. These are our our students, our girls uh and they are attacked by an American fighter, a jet fighter and they have been killed. Why Iran is responsible? [clears throat] Have we started this war? Have we attacked our own people? No. We we were negotiating with the United States. And in the middle of negotiations, in the middle of diplomacy, they decided to attack us and they have attacked so many places including schools and hospitals. And there is then there are all evidences that this school is attacked by an American uh you know jet fighter. Where is the Iranian evidence that this was a US attack? A jet fighter as you say. Will you provide? >> If it was not you, if it was not US, then who was that? Maybe Israelis, but it is obvious who else is is attacking us. >> Well, let me move on to this question about potential ground troops. you said earlier this week on US ground troops to my colleague Tom Yamis, quote, "We are waiting for them." But President Trump says the condition for sending troops to Iran would be that Iran quote would be so decimated that they wouldn't be able to fight at the ground level. Is the president right? Would you not be able to fight at the ground level, Mr. Foreign Minister? >> Well, at least at least this is not the case right now. For the time being, we are capable enough. We have very brave soldiers who are waiting for any enemy who enter into our soil to fight with them and to destro and to and to kill them and destroy them. So, and that would be the case in the coming days and the coming years and and in the in in always in our uh you know uh in in Iran. We are brave people. We have a great civilization. We have defended our land for thousands of years and and we continue to do that uh as much as it takes. >> Let me ask you because you have said that this was a war of choice. President Trump said one of the reasons for launching this war was that Iran quote already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases and would soon have missiles capable of reaching America. Was Iran planning to directly attack the United States? >> Well, this this is not true. Uh this is in fact misinformation. uh uh you know we have capability uh to produce missiles but we have intentionally limited ourselves to below 2,000 kilometers of range because we don't want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world. Uh we have not started any plan to increase the range of our missiles more than what it is right now. So there is no evidence, there is no intelligence, nothing to to indicate that Iran is uh going to long range missiles, let alone let alone those missiles who can reach the United States soul. Sorry. >> All right. And of course, US officials say that negotiations over this came to a halt and that is part of why they moved forward with this action. Minister Iraqi, thank you very much. We will obviously be tracking everything that unfolds very closely. We appreciate you being here. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. >> We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.

In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araghchi responds to President Trump’s demand to pick the next Iranian Supreme Leader, saying it's up to the Iranian people to make that call.