Iran is prepared to resume atomic discussions with Washington as long as it is handled with "respect" and "respect", Tehran's foreign minister has declared.
Abbas Araghchi said only diplomacy produced results, and shared fresh requests had been made by go-betweens to reopen negotiations with the Trump administration. He asserted Iran possessed no undeclared nuclear sites, and Tehran had not yet reached a point to authorize the International Atomic Energy Agency to access attacked atomic facilities for security reasons.
The foreign minister is navigating a challenging route since Iran aims to avoid appear to be acting from a position of vulnerability, and he insisted repeatedly that Iran had arisen stronger in military terms and psychologically from the joint assault on its nuclear sites in June.
He was talking at a security conference in Tehran where he reaffirmed that Iran had "an inalienable right to refine atomic fuel within its borders that it will never give up" – the main reason of the stalemate in the previous talks.
The earlier sessions of negotiations between the United States and Iran were brought to an abrupt and hostile termination on 12 June when the Israeli government, with US support, attacked Iranian nuclear sites in a fortnight-long engagement that culminated with Donald Trump claiming the sites had been obliterated. Following this, EU nations employed their authority to restore global restrictions, but Iran asserts they have not had a major impact.
Iranian officials claimed they felt they had reached a "perfect agreement" to the nuclear fuel concern in previous talks, when it was settled an Iran-based consortium with Washington's engagement could enrich uranium. Each party would have been able to declare success since local refinement would have persisted and the US could be assured that Iran's atomic project was exclusively peaceful.
It had not been decided in the discussions that American atomic experts could function within Iranian territory, but that was a logical implication of the consortium proposal. Diplomats stated three times they had achieved a deal with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff only for the arrangement to disintegrate due to "opponents in the US".
Iran's diplomats said the cooperative arrangement was now no longer available, but it seems quite possible the suggestion could be resurrected in various formats if discussions resume.
The US president last week said he had been getting signals that Iran sought to restart talks, but in private Tehran representatives state they are not yet obtaining consistent overtures from Washington either straightforwardly or from important Middle Eastern intermediaries, such as Qatar, the Egyptian leadership, the Omani authorities and Saudi Arabia. The Tehran's diplomatic corps has been charged of inactivity in the face of Trump's direct instinctive approach, but Iran states negotiations is not part of a spectacle.
In his address to the gathering, aimed to portray the US as a dominant force that misuses the concept of worldwide standards, Araghchi said the two-week conflict showed the clash could not be resolved by military means. He said the strikes 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 mounted with complete American awareness and coordination, making trust difficult to reestablish.
Araghchi declared: "It was not Iran that had abandoned negotiations; it was America and the European states that had repeatedly sought to dictate their desires during the discussions. Dialogue can still be alive and remains the ultimate solution to settle disagreements, but its standards, regulations and fundamentals must be followed."
"In case they address to the Iranian people with the language of respect and honor, they will get a reply in the same approach."
In what is portrayed by Iran's diplomats as the battle of repair and rebuilding, the foreign minister claimed he was certain Iran's defence capabilities "have significantly improved than before 13 or 14 June of this year. All our capabilities have been restored. We gained multiple understandings from this conflict; we have come to know our own weaknesses and the vulnerabilities of the enemy."
He stated: "We successfully passed this conflict. Our nuclear technology, which they intended to eliminate, continues to exist. The sites and equipment, if destroyed, will be rebuilt; what is crucial is the will of the citizens of Tehran and then the national cohesion that they targeted, but did not succeed to destroy. The nation of Iran have become more resilient, more united, and more supportive of the government and the country in the wake of this assault."
Elara is a seasoned writer and digital storyteller with a passion for exploring diverse literary genres and empowering others through words.
