Iran says has right to self-defence if US attacks

• Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that while Iran cannot strike the US mainland, it will target American military bases across the Middle East as a "legitimate" act of self-defense if the US initiates an attack.
• Despite asserting Iran's sovereign right to uranium enrichment, Araghchi expressed optimism for a diplomatic resolution, confirming that negotiators are currently drafting the text for a potential deal to avert a full-scale conflict.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Sunday that his country would be forced to strike back at US interests in the Middle East in response to any renewed attack.

"If the US attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves. If the US attacks us, that is the act of aggression. What we do in response is an act of self-defence," Araghchi said in an interview with the US network CBS.

"It is justified, legitimate. So our missiles cannot hit the American soil. So obviously we have to do something else. We have to hit, you know, the American base in the region."

Araghch added that he thought there was still a "good chance" his country's standoff with the United States could be resolved through diplomacy.

"I believe that still there is a good chance to have a diplomatic solution which is based on a win-win game," Araghchi said, adding negotiators were "working on the elements of a deal and draft of the text".

As for Iran's uranium enrichment, which the US opposes, Araghchi said: "As a sovereign country, we have every right to decide for ourselves, by ourselves."