Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Thursday that continued US attacks would force President Donald Trump to pay a “heavier price” for the agreement he is seeking with Iran.

“Compromised individuals in the US administration are burying their heads in the sand,” Araghchi said in a post on the US social media company X.

“They ignore the realities on the ground and seem focused only on 2028,” he said, adding that the “mindless aggression” they advocate would only ensure that Trump “pays heavier price for the deal he is trying to achieve.”

Araghchi’s warning comes amid renewed exchanges of attacks between Iran and the US following disagreements over the implementation of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides last month.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, meanwhile, defended Tehran’s strikes on US military bases and assets in Gulf countries and Jordan as an exercise of Iran’s right to self-defense.

In a post on X, Baqaei said US Central Command chief Gen. Brad Cooper had openly acknowledged the participation of several Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Jordan in US military operations against Iran.

He said these countries should officially and transparently reject the claim if the US assertion was false.

Baqaei argued that questioning Iran’s motives for striking US bases in those countries ignored what Tehran regarded as their role in facilitating attacks against Iranian territory.

“The insecurity and fires raging in the region are exclusively the result of the continuing US-Israeli aggression against Iran,” he said.

He claimed that allowing national territory to be used to facilitate US attacks made those countries parties to the US offensive under UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 and constituted a violation of the principle of good neighborliness and Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

Baqaei said Iran’s exercise of what he described as its legitimate right to self-defense was necessary to restore security and stability across the region.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that Iran was not yet prepared to reach an agreement with Washington and warned that the pressure on Tehran would continue.

“They’re probably not ready to do a deal yet, but they will be soon because the price they’re paying is very high,” he said.

The US and Iran signed a Pakistani-mediated memorandum of understanding last month aimed at ending their conflict and paving the way for a lasting agreement.

Tensions, however, escalated again last week over navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides exchanging attacks across the region. (AA)

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