Iran's FM Abbas Araghchi says it can’t strike US soil, justifies attacks near American bases

Iran's foreign minister Araghchi

Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran, said on Sunday that Iranian missiles cannot reach the United States, as he defended strikes that have hit Gulf neighbours during the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Speaking to NBC News’ programme Meet the Press, Araghchi said the attacks were aimed at American bases located in neighbouring countries.

“It is Americans who started this war against us, attacking us, and we are defending ourselves. So it is obvious that our missiles cannot reach the US soil,” Araghchi told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“What we can do is to attack American bases and American installations around us, which are unfortunately in the soil of our, you know, neighbor countries.”

Araghchi also said Donald Trump “should apologize to people of the region and the Iranian people for the killings and destruction they have done against us.”

He defended Iranian attacks that have hit Gulf neighbours during the war, saying those strikes were aimed at US bases in the region as Iranian missiles were unable to reach the United States.

“It is Americans who started this war against us, attacking us, and we are defending ourselves. So it is obvious that our missiles cannot reach the US soil,” Araghchi said.

“What we can do is to attack American bases and American installations around us, which are unfortunately in the soil of our, you know, neighbor countries.”

Trump has asserted that Iranian missiles could “soon” be able to strike the United States, although a US intelligence assessment as recently as 2025 stated Tehran did not have intercontinental ballistic missiles, and that it could take until 2035 for it to develop 60 such weapons.