Tehran Says It Could Rejoin American Nuclear Talks if Handled with 'Respect' and 'Respect'
Iran is ready to restart nuclear talks with Washington as long as it is treated with "dignity" and "respect", Tehran's top diplomat has declared.
Abbas Araghchi stated solely negotiations produced results, and revealed recent overtures had originated from go-betweens to restart talks with the Trump administration. He said Iran had zero secret atomic facilities, and Tehran had not yet reached a point to authorize the global atomic watchdog to inspect struck enrichment centers for protective measures.
Walking a Difficult Course
The foreign minister is treading a complex path since Iran aims to avoid be perceived to be acting from a position of vulnerability, and he insisted repeatedly that Iran had emerged more powerful militarily and psychologically from the Israeli-US attack on its nuclear sites in June.
He was addressing at a strategic meeting in Tehran where he reiterated that Iran had "an absolute privilege to process nuclear material within its borders that it will never give up" – the key factor of the stalemate in the prior discussions.
Prior Negotiations Unexpectedly Terminated
The previous five rounds of negotiations between the US and Iran were concluded unexpectedly and acrimonious conclusion on 12 June when Israel, with American backing, struck Tehran's atomic facilities in a two-week conflict that concluded with Donald Trump asserting the locations had been destroyed. Afterward, Western states exercised their right to restore UN-wide sanctions, but Iran asserts they have not had a significant effect.
Ideal Resolution Offered
Iranian officials stated they felt they had reached a "ideal resolution" to the nuclear fuel concern in prior discussions, when it was decided an domestic cooperative with US participation could enrich uranium. Both sides would have been able to assert triumph since local refinement would have continued and the US could be certain that Iran's nuclear programme was solely for peaceful purposes.
It had not been agreed in the discussions that Washington's technical specialists could work on Iranian soil, but that was a reasonable assumption of the cooperative offer. Officials claimed three times they had reached agreement with Washington's diplomat the American negotiator only for the agreement to collapse due to "opponents in the US".
Present Status
Iran's diplomats said the cooperative arrangement was now off the table, but it seems very probable the suggestion could be reintroduced in various formats if discussions resume.
The US president recently said he had been getting signals that Iran wanted to reopen negotiations, but in private Iran's diplomats state they are not yet getting coherent offers from Washington either straightforwardly or from key regional mediators, such as the Qatari government, the Egyptian leadership, the Omani authorities and the Saudi kingdom. The Tehran's diplomatic corps has been charged of passivity in the wake of Trump's direct instinctive approach, but Tehran states dialogue is not part of a performance.
Diplomatic Position
In his address to the conference, intended to paint the US as a controlling nation that exploits the idea of worldwide standards, the foreign minister stated the two-week conflict demonstrated the conflict could not be settled by armed force. He said the attacks commenced with a US demand for an complete Tehran capitulation and concluded with an absolute demand for a halt to hostilities.
Iran is convinced the initial Israeli attacks were executed with full US knowledge and cooperation, making faith difficult to rebuild.
Negotiations Continues the Primary Solution
The foreign minister said: "It was not Iran that had fled negotiations; it was America and the European states that had always attempted to impose their will during the negotiations. Negotiations can still be alive and continues the ultimate resolution to resolve disputes, but its criteria, regulations and fundamentals must be adhered to."
"In case they talk to the Iranian people with the approach of respect and respect, they will get a reply in the equivalent approach."
Restoration and Reconstruction
In what is portrayed by Iran's diplomats as the struggle of repair and rebuilding, the foreign minister claimed he was assured Iran's military capacities "are much stronger than preceding 13 or 14 June of this year. Every aspect of our defense have been reestablished. We learned many lessons from this war; we have come to know our own weaknesses and the shortcomings of the enemy."
He continued: "We managed to survive this engagement. Our nuclear technology, which they aimed to eliminate, stays intact. The installations and machinery, if eliminated, will be restored; what is important is the determination of the citizens of Tehran and then the national cohesion that they aimed at, but were unable to destroy. The Iranian people have developed more powerful, more cohesive, and more supportive of the administration and the nation in the aftermath of this attack."