Iran's foreign minister just fired off one of the starkest warnings yet in the standoff with Washington. In an NBC News interview on Sunday, September 27, Abbas Araghchi told Meet the Press that Tehran is fully prepared for the war to resume, even if it turns into a "doomsday war." He was reacting to President Trump's public rejection of Iran's seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, along with a Wall Street Journal report that Trump could resume bombing after the November midterms. Yet Araghchi stressed that the door to diplomacy is still open, saying the choice now rests with the American president. He added that Iran has not yet been officially told about the rejection through its mediators.

Araghchi laid out the price of a deal: an end to the war, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, and the freedom to sell Iranian oil. Under his timeline, Washington would act within four or five days, Iran would reopen the strait on day six, and negotiations would resume on day seven. He also mocked the idea of a quick American win, noting that Washington once expected unconditional surrender within days, while the on-again, off-again war, which began on February 28, has dragged on for months without a clear result. Iran, he said, has changed its tactics and does not care about the U.S. midterm calendar. On the American side, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Michael Waltz dismissed the offer as a cynical move built on terms Tehran knew were unacceptable, adding that all options remain on the table.