After the United States and Israel began combat operations against Iran, NBC’s Peter Alexander and Laura Jarrett welcomed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Saturday’s edition of Today to get his perspective. The worst part of the interview was when Jarrett opened up the floor for Araghchi to give his “message to the president," which consisted of an airing of grievances that were not fact-checked. Jarrett simply wondered, “Sir, you heard, likely, the president of the United States talk about regime change in Iran this morning in his recorded statements. What is your message to the president?”   Laura Jarrett invites the Iranian Foreign Minister to answer "What is your message to the president?" who then proceeds to repeat several bits of fake news unchallenged, "This is not the first time that they want to do regime change. They have tried in the past. Look, in the past… pic.twitter.com/ZtHnO2yIYG — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 28, 2026   Araghchi tried to project strength, “Well, I think this is mission impossible. You know, for regime change, you cannot do regime change while millions of people are supporting this so-called regime. Just look at what happened in the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. We had altogether about 30 million people in the streets, in all cities of Iran, in support of the Islamic Republic and in support of the whole system.” Roughly 30 million Iranians voted in the last regime-controlled election, so the idea that 30 million people demonstrated in support of the regime is probably wildly exaggerated. Nevertheless, Araghchi rolled on: This is not the first time that they want to do regime change. They have tried in the past. Look, in the past 47 years, the United States has tried everything from coup, from sanctions, eight years of war by Saddam Hussein, supported by the United States and many others, and then you know, 12 Day War, snap back in the Security Council, and the terrorist operations. They have tried everything. And all of them failed. And I don't know why they don't, you know, understand their failures. So, if they want to repeat a failed experience, they won't get any better result. There is so much to fact-check there. First, the United States did not support “eight years of war by Saddam Hussein.” What happened was Saddam invaded in 1980, but when Iran had successfully evicted all Iraqi forces by 1982, it refused to end the war unless Saddam stepped down, which he was never going to do. So, Iran went on the offensive, and that is when the U.S. started helping Baghdad. Interestingly enough, “many others” did not include Israel, which bombed Iraq’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Also, the 12 Day War was limited to Iran’s nuclear program, and most of the sanctions are nuclear program-related as well. There is also the fact that by “terrorist operations,” Araghchi just means anti-regime protestors. Earlier, he tried to claim the violent crackdown against protestors was actually a suppression of a Mossad terrorist operation meant to justify a war because Trump had drawn a red line during the crackdown to try to prevent Tehran from murdering its own people. Jarrett and Alexander didn’t really push back against this, only seeking to clarify that he was alleging foreign involvement. Nor did they push back against anything Araghchi said in his message to Trump. Instead, they moved on and asked him to give his message to the Iranian people. Here is a transcript for the February 28 show: NBC Today 2/28/2026 9:14 AM ET LAURA JARRETT: Sir, you heard, likely, the president of the United States talk about regime change in Iran this morning in his recorded statements. What is your message to the president? ABBAS ARAGHCHI: Well, I think this is mission impossible. You know, for regime change, you cannot do regime change while millions of people are supporting this so-called regime. Just look at what happened in the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. We had altogether about 30 million people in the streets, in all cities of Iran, in support of the Islamic Republic and in support of the whole system. So, you cannot change, you know, this regime because it's the—you know, it's supported by the people. Yes, there are also people who are complaining, but there are strong supporters of the regime, of the system at the same time. And then, we have a very well established political structure, and they have tried regime changes. This is not the first time that they want to do regime change. They have tried in the past. Look, in the past 47 years, the United States has tried everything from coup, from sanctions, eight years of war by Saddam Hussein, supported by the United States and many others, and then you know, 12 Day War, snap back in the Security Council, and the terrorist operations. They have tried everything. And all of them failed. And I don't know why they don't, you know, understand their failures. So, if they want to repeat a failed experience, they won't get any better result.