Iran’s new FM says Tehran will seek to ‘manage tensions’ with US, expresses support for ‘axis of resistance’

Iran’s new government will seek to “manage tensions” with the United States to help reduce pressure and neutralize crippling sanctions, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in an interview aired on state television late last night.

During the interview, the foreign minister also expresses Tehran’s unwavering support “under any circumstances” for the so-called axis of resistance, a network of Iran-aligned terror groups and militias across the Middle East opposed to Israel.

“What we have to do is manage the tensions and hostilities” between Tehran and Washington, he says.

Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1980, the year after the Islamic revolution that toppled its Western-backed Shah Mohammed Reza.

A landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program, but the deal quickly collapsed and tensions reignited following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018 under then-US president Donald Trump.

“In foreign policy, we have a duty to reduce as much as possible the cost of this hostility and reduce its pressure on the nation,” says Araghchi, who was one of the key negotiators of the 2015 agreement.

He adds that Iran’s foreign policy will prioritize “neighboring countries” as well as African countries, along with China and Russia, among others.