President Donald Trump said March 6 that the U.S. will not make a deal with Iran unless the country agrees to “unconditional surrender.” A day earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the Middle Eastern country was not pursuing a ceasefire and would be ready for a potential U.S. ground invasion.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump said on Truth Social. “After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
“IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE,” he concluded. “‘MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).’”
Trump’s post came hours after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X that “some countries” initiated mediation efforts.
Some countries have begun mediation efforts. Let's be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation's dignity & sovereignty. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict https://t.co/MxWCuNYOYR
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) March 6, 2026
“Let's be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation's dignity & sovereignty,” Pezeshkian added. “Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict.”
In a March 5 interview published before Pezeshkian’s comments, Araghchi said his country is “confident” they can “confront” any potential ground invasion by the U.S. military. He said the move “would be a big disaster” for the U.S., as Zeale News previously reported.
While Trump has refused to rule out a ground invasion, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said March 4 that such an operation is not part of the administration’s “current plan.”
During his interview, Araghchi also refused to entertain ceasefire negotiations.
“We didn’t ask for a ceasefire even last time. In previous time[s], it was Israel who asked for a ceasefire. They asked for an unconditional ceasefire after 12 days that we resisted against their aggression,” he said, referring to the 12-day conflict in June 2025 during which the U.S. and Israel struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.
On March 1, Iranian official Ali Larijani similarly said on X, “We will not negotiate with the United States.”
However, The New York Times reported March 4, citing officials briefed on the matter, that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence had reached out “indirectly” to the CIA in the early days of the war to discuss terms for ending the conflict. Trump also said March 5 that Iran had reached out to make a deal to end the war but they are “a little bit late, and we want to fight now more than they do.”
Trump has also already indicated that he wants to be personally involved in the selection of Iran’s next leader. As Zeale News previously reported, Trump said in a March 5 interview with Axios that he wants a leader “who will bring harmony and peace.” He said that Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran — was the obvious candidate to succeed his father. But Trump added that this choice would be “unacceptable.”
The war with Iran has continued to escalate. As Zeale News previously reported, the U.S. and Israel announced March 5 that they were moving on to the “next phase” of their operation, in which the military would dismantle Iran’s missile production capability. Israel’s top general, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, also said that his country’s military has “additional surprises ahead that I do not intend to disclose.”
Initial U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Khamenei and 49 other senior leaders, while also suppressing Iranian air defenses and multiple ballistic missile launch sites. U.S. forces have since targeted Iranian naval forces and expanded strikes across the region to sink an Iranian warship in international waters near Sri Lanka.
Iran has responded with waves of ballistic missiles and drone attacks against Israel and U.S. military bases across the Gulf and Arab countries in the region. More than a thousand people have been killed so far, according to NBC News, and six U.S. service members died in a strike on a military facility in Kuwait.
In a March 4 phone interview with Time magazine, Trump said in answer to a question about whether Americans should be worried about retaliatory attacks on U.S. soil: “I guess. But I think they’re worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it.”
“We expect some things. Like I said, some people will die,” he added. “When you go to war, some people will die.”