BEIRUT (AP) — Iran does not want war with Israel or the United States, but is ready to fight back if attacked again, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday.
Speaking in Beirut, Araghchi told reporters that Iran is also ready for negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program as long as the talks are based on mutual respect rather than “dictation” by Washington.
The minister's comments came as many fear that close U.S. ally Israel will target Iran again as it did during the 12-day war in June, during which Israel killed senior military officials and nuclear scientists and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear enrichment sites.
“America and Israel have tested their attack on Iran and this attack and strategy faced extreme failure,” Araghchi said at the start of a two-day visit to Lebanon. “If they repeat it, they will face the same results.”
“We are ready for any choice. We don’t desire a war but we are ready for it,” Araghchi said.
U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in February in an effort to block its development of nuclear weapons. The campaign included U.S. led strikes on three critical Iranian enrichment facilities in June.
Araghchi said Tehran is ready for negotiations, adding: "But I say that the negotiations should be based on mutual respect and mutual interests.”
“We believe that once the Americans reach the outcome that constructive and positive negotiations rather than ordering dictation are the framework, then at that time the results of the these negotiations become fruitful,” he said.
Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels — after Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Tehran long has maintained its atomic program is peaceful, though the West and the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, say Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003.
Trump last month warned Iran that the U.S. could carry out further military strikes if the country attempts to reconstitute its nuclear program as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.
Araghchi’s visit to Beirut came as the Lebanese military said it had concluded the first phase of a plan to disarm factions, such as Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Iran's foreign minister headed an economic delegation for talks with Lebanese officials on regional and international affairs.
“Iran desires having comprehensive relations with Lebanon, including economic partnerships,” Araghchi said.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, meets with Amer Bisat, the Lebanese minister of Economy and Trade, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, gestures as he meets with Amer Bisat, the Lebanese minister of Economy and Trade, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, a day after an officer shot and killed a driver in Minnesota, authorities said.
The shooting drew hundreds of protesters to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building Thursday night, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield vowed to investigate “whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority” and to refer criminal charges to the prosecutor's office if warranted.
The Department of Homeland Security described the vehicle's passenger as “a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who had been involved in a recent shooting in Portland. When agents identified themselves to the occupants during a “targeted vehicle stop” Thursday afternoon, the driver tried to run them over, the department said in a written statement.
“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot,” the statement said. “The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.”
There was no immediate independent corroboration of that account or of any gang affiliation of the vehicle's occupants. During prior shootings involving agents involved in President Donald Trump's surge of immigration enforcement in U.S. cities, including Wednesday's shooting by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, video evidence cast doubt on the administration's descriptions of what prompted the shootings.
Trump and his allies have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some U.S. cities.
The shooting escalates tensions in an city that has long had a contentious relationship with President Donald Trump, including Trump’s recent, failed effort to deploy National Guard troops in the city. Trump’s decision to send militarized personnel into U.S. cities to conduct immigration enforcement drew long-running nightly protests outside the ICE building in Portland.
According to the the Portland Police bureau, officers initially responded to a report of a shooting outside Adventist Health hospital at about 2:18 p.m. Thursday.
A few minutes later, police received information that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a residential area a couple of miles away. Officers then responded there and found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds. Officers determined they were injured in the shooting with federal agents, police said.
Their conditions were not immediately known. Portland police said officers applied a tourniquet to one of the wounded. Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said during a Portland city council meeting that "as far as we know both of these individuals are still alive and we are hoping for more positive updates throughout the afternoon.”
At a news conference Thursday night, Portland Police Chief Bob Day said the FBI was leading the investigation and that he had no details about the events that led to the shooting.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on ICE to end all operations in Oregon’s largest city until a full investigation is completed.
“We stand united as elected officials in saying that we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts,” a joint statement said. “Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences.”
Wilson also suggested at a news conference that he didn't necessarily believe the federal government's account of the shooting: “There was a time we could take them at their word. That time is long past.”
Democratic State Sen. Kayse Jama, who lives near the shooting scene, said Oregon is a welcoming state — but he told federal agents to leave.
“You are not welcome,” Jama said. "You need to get the hell out of Oregon.”
The city officials said “federal militarization undermines effective, community‑based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region. We’ll use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”
They urged residents to show up with “calm and purpose during this difficult time.”
Several dozen people gathered Thursday evening near the scene where Portland police found the wounded people.
“It’s just been chaos," said one, Anjalyssa Jones. "The community is trying to get answers.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, urged any protesters to remain peaceful.
“Trump wants to generate riots,” he said in a post on the X social media platform. “Don’t take the bait.”
Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporter Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed.
Protesters and law enforcement stand outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
A protester yells at a Portland police officer outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
A security guard stands at the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, center, speaks to the media following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
FILE - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seal during a news conference June 28, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
