Iran Foreign Minister, President Appear In Public, Spell Out How War Can End

Iran's top officials, including its President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, made a rare public appearance and joined a rally as part of celebrations marking "Islamic Republic Day" on Tuesday. The duo appeared to be cruising through the crowd without visible security, interacting with members of the public and stopping to take selfies with participants along the route, amid a continued threat of assassination.

Videos of the Pezeshkian and Araghchi interacting with the crowd went viral on social media. When asked why he joined the demonstrators, Araghchi said, "I came to be among them, to draw energy from the movement on the ground and to enjoy this unity and popular cohesion."

The last time the two top leaders were seen on the streets of Tehran was on "Iranian Quds Day" with Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, days before he was killed in US-Israeli strikes. Since the start of the war in Iran, Israel has launched an assassination campaign targeting several top Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, among others.

✊ EL PRESIDENTE Y EL MINISTRO DE EXTERIORES DE IRÁN PARTICIPAN EN UNA MANIFESTACIÓN CONTRA AGRESIONES DE EE.UU. E ISRAELhttps://t.co/tlZkew2AFy pic.twitter.com/h4f1y55fzF

— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) April 1, 2026

Iran's Condition To End War

A while later, Pezeshkian told the head of the European Council that Iran had "the necessary will to end this conflict, provided that essential conditions are met -- especially the guarantees required to prevent repetition of the aggression".

The remark echoed Tehran's counterproposal to a 15-point US plan last week to finish the conflict, in which Iran demanded a mechanism guaranteeing that Israel and the United States would not return to arms.

It came after a day of heavy strikes on Iran and followed a warning from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to retaliate against leading US tech firms, such as Google and Apple, from Wednesday if more Iranian leaders were killed in "targeted assassinations".

El presidente de Irán, Masoud Pezeshkian, y el ministro de Exteriores, Abbas Araghchi, participaron personalmente en una manifestación contra las agresiones de EE.UU. e Israel contra su nación. pic.twitter.com/Nm0k096d5G

— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) April 1, 2026

US-Iran Talks

Iran's foreign minister has also acknowledged that he was in direct talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The comments by Araghchi came in an interview with Al Jazeera aired late Tuesday. He insisted that the messages didn't constitute negotiations.

"I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations," he said.

He added, "We do not have any faith that negotiations with the US will yield any results. The trust level is at zero."

Asked about a possible ground offensive by the US, Araghchi said, "We are waiting for them."

"We know very well how to defend ourselves," Araghchi reportedly told the Qatar-based broadcaster. "In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake."

On Iran's plan for ending the war, the Iranian leader said, "Our conditions for ending the war are clear. We will not accept a ceasefire."

About a week ago, it was reported that Araghchi and Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf were temporarily removed from Israel's hit list in order to allow negotiations between Washington and Tehran.