Iranian FM : Foreign Policy Should Be Guided by Evidence, Not Prejudgment

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently addressed rumors circulating about a supposed meeting between an Iranian official and Elon Musk, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based judgment in foreign policy. In a post shared on his X account, Araghchi warned against allowing cognitive biases to influence decision-making, citing the unfounded speculation surrounding the alleged encounter.

Araghchi highlighted that some individuals embraced the rumor without evidence, while others, eager for the meeting to happen, took the claims at face value. The foreign minister pointed out that others hastily accused the government of mistakes in foreign policy decisions despite the lack of any substantiating facts, and even after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a denial. He reiterated that foreign policy should not be a place for prejudgment, and stressed that realism requires decisions based on verifiable evidence.

Concluding his remarks, Araghchi criticized the policy of silence and ambiguity in response to the issue, calling it a rookie mistake that played into the interests of those spreading misinformation. The rumor about a meeting between Musk and Iran’s UN ambassador had been widely circulated, but the Iranian Foreign Ministry, through spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, firmly denied the claims, underlining that no such meeting had taken place.