Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran is prepared for a "doomsday" war with the United States, but stressed he was keeping diplomacy open so as not to "miss any chance for peace."
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"We stand firm in the face of any aggression against us, even if it comes to a doomsday war," Araghchi made the remarks during an interview with NBC News.
"If you ask us, there is no reason why we should go back to diplomacy, but I am still trying diplomacy because I think we shouldn't miss any chance for peace," Araghchi said. "We are ready to negotiate as much as we are ready to face any challenge."
On Friday, Araghchi had proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear negotiations with the US within seven days, provided the Trump administration agreed to Iran's conditions.
However, US President Donald Trump rejected the proposal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump also expected to resume bombing Tehran once the US midterm elections concluded in November.
In a separate NBC News interview, US ambassador to the United Nations, Michael Waltz, described Iran's latest offer as a "cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable."
Since the beginning of the war in late February, Iran has significantly disrupted traffic through the strait, curbing oil and gas exports from the Persian Gulf.
US rejects captured underwater drone reports
Meanwhile, the US military has pushed back against claims by Iran's Revolutionary Guard that it had seized an advanced American underwater vehicle conducting surveillance in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Centcom spokesman, captain Tim Hawkins, told Al Jazeera that the US maintains "positive control of all of our operational drone assets," brushing off the IRGC's claim as "clearly desperate."
Earlier today, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had seized a second advanced US unmanned underwater vehicle, the Remus 600, in the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation as a "coordinated and complex" effort involving military intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities.
