Iran vows to fight ‘as long as it takes,’ threatens Trump with ‘elimination’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday his country would keep fighting as long as necessary, casting doubt on US President Donald Trump’s insistence the previous day that the conflict would be over “soon.”

And the Islamic Republic’s security chief, Ali Larijani, dismissed Trump’s “empty” threats, insisting that the people of Iran did not fear them.

“Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation,” Larijani warned Trump on X. “Watch out for yourself — lest you be eliminated.”

The remarks from Araghchi, who also ruled out negotiations with Washington, came as Tehran launched a new wave of attacks on US-allied Gulf nations, hours after Trump’s assurances of a swift end to the rapidly widening conflict.

Trump’s comments helped reverse the stock market slumps and oil price jumps of a day earlier, with markets in Tokyo and Seoul opening strongly, and oil prices down as much as five percent, a day after benchmark crude rocketed past $100 a barrel.

“It’s going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again they’ll be hit even harder,” Trump told a news conference in Florida on Monday, after telling lawmakers that the campaign would be a “short-term excursion.”

“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” Trump said.

He threatened an attack of “incalculable” size if Tehran blocks oil supplies.

“We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world, if they do anything.”

However, in an interview, Araghchi told PBS News, “The firing continues, and we are prepared. We are well prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes.”

And Araghchi effectively ruled out negotiations with Washington, saying Tehran had “a very bitter experience of talking with Americans.”

The last war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, which the US briefly joined to strike Iranian nuclear sites, also broke out in the wake of a round of negotiations with Washington.

“I don’t think talking with Americans anymore would be on our agenda,” Araghchi said, noting that the US had spoken of progress after three rounds of talks, before it launched the opening strikes of the campaign on February 28 along with Israel.

He claimed that the US and Israel had “failed” to achieve regime change in Iran in the war’s opening days, and were now “aimless.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also responded to Trump, saying that they would “determine the end of the war,” and reiterated that they would not allow any oil to leave the region if attacks continued.

Iran has effectively stopped tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman — the gateway to the Indian Ocean — through which 20% of the world’s oil is carried. Attacks on merchant ships near the strait have killed at least seven sailors, according to the International Maritime Organization.

In a later Truth Social post, Trump repeated his warning.

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” he said.

Meanwhile, Amin Nasser, the president and CEO of Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco, said tankers were being rerouted to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, and that its East-West pipeline would reach its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day being brought to the Red Sea port of Yanbu this week.

“The situation at the Strait of Hormuz is blocking sizable volumes of oil from the whole region,” he said, and also hinted at global oil markets being squeezed the longer the Iran war goes on and shipments from the Mideast remain affected.

Tighter supplies would likely push the price per barrel globally even higher, translating to higher costs for gasoline and jet fuel.

“If this takes a long time, that will have a serious impact on the global economy,” Nasser said.

‘Not looking for a ceasefire’

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also doubled down on Tuesday on the assertion that Tehran was not seeking an end to the war, prompting his Israeli counterpart, Amir Ohana, to retort that no offer of a ceasefire was on the table.

“We are absolutely not looking for a ceasefire; we believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again,” Qalibaf wrote in a post on X.

“The Zionist regime sees its ignominious existence in the continuation of the cycle of ‘war-negotiation-ceasefire, and then war again’ to consolidate its dominance. We will break this cycle,” he added.

Responding in Persian, Ohana hit back: “The only thing proposed to you was unconditional surrender.”