Abbas Araghchi has accused Israel of actively sabotaging diplomacy, describing the country as the primary obstacle to a lasting ceasefire deal with the US, IRNA news agency reports.

“The Zionist regime was and remains the biggest opponent and obstacle to the implementation of the memorandum of understanding. They made every effort to prevent such an agreement from being reached, every effort to make this agreement fail, and every effort to prevent it from being implemented,” he said.

Araghchi added that Trump’s demand for an “unconditional surrender” from Iran failed to materialise, as Tehran ultimately accepted a ceasefire and conducted negotiations with the US on its own terms.

According to the report, Araghchi said those who “sought an unconditional surrender, within a short time of the war’s commencement, were begging for negotiations”.

“It was us who said we would not accept a ceasefire and continued the war until we reached a point where they accepted a ceasefire and negotiations on Iran’s terms,” he said.