Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has firmly denied claims by US President Donald Trump that the Islamic Republic is developing missiles capable of striking the United States, insisting that Iran’s missile program is strictly defensive in nature.

Araghchi made the remarks in an interview with India Today in Tehran on Wednesday, shortly before departing for Geneva, where he is scheduled to hold a third round of nuclear-related talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, The Caspian Post reports, citing IRNA.

The comments came in response to statements made by Trump during his State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, in which he alleged that Iran “is working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

Addressing a question about the origin of the claim, Araghchi suggested that the US president had been misinformed. Noting that Trump has frequently criticized what he describes as “fake news,” the Iranian foreign minister remarked that “he is the victim of fake news” in this case.

Araghchi emphasized that Iran has deliberately limited the range of its missiles to under 2,000 kilometers and is not pursuing long-range missile development.

“We are not developing long-range missiles, and we have limited the range of our missiles below 2,000 kilometers intentionally by ourselves because we don’t want anyone. We don’t want it to be a global threat. This is only to defend ourselves. Our missiles have a defense nature. They are only to build deterrence and to help us defend ourselves,” he said.

The foreign minister also cited what he described as a recent example of Iran using its missile capabilities for defensive purposes. Referring to the 12-day conflict in June last year involving Israel and the US, Araghchi said Iran did not initiate hostilities.

“We did not initiate that war. It was Israelis and then Americans. We only defended ourselves. For them, that was an illegal act of aggression. For us, it was a legitimate act of self-defense,” he stated.