🔗 Share this article

Tehran is prepared to resume nuclear talks with the United States on condition that it is treated with "respect" and "honor", Tehran's top diplomat has stated.

Abbas Araghchi said exclusively dialogue was effective, and shared recent overtures had originated from mediators to restart talks with the American leadership. He asserted Iran did not have unreported enrichment locations, and Iran was not yet able to authorize the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit bombed nuclear sites for safety concerns.

Walking a Challenging Path

Araghchi is navigating a challenging path since Iran wishes not to be seen to be operating from a situation of disadvantage, and he emphatically stated that Iran had emerged more powerful defensively and emotionally from the joint assault on its atomic facilities in June.

He was talking at a defense forum in Tehran where he reaffirmed that Iran had "an absolute privilege to refine atomic fuel domestically that it will never give up" – the primary cause of the impasse in the earlier negotiations.

Earlier Negotiations Suddenly Ended

The earlier sessions of discussions between the United States and Iran were concluded unexpectedly and acrimonious termination on 12 June when Israel, with American backing, struck Iran's enrichment centers in a fortnight-long engagement that concluded with the US president declaring the sites had been eliminated. Following this, EU nations employed their privilege to restore global restrictions, but Iran insists they have not had a significant effect.

Magic Solution Proposed

Tehran representatives claimed they felt they had reached a "perfect agreement" to the uranium processing matter in earlier negotiations, when it was decided an domestic cooperative with US participation could process nuclear material. Each party would have been able to claim victory since home-based processing would have continued and the US could be confident that Iran's atomic project was exclusively peaceful.

It had not been decided in the negotiations that Washington's technical specialists could function inside Iran, but that was a logical implication of the partnership suggestion. Diplomats asserted repeatedly they had reached agreement with the US representative the American negotiator only for the agreement to disintegrate due to "opponents in the US".

Current Position

Iran's diplomats stated the cooperative arrangement was now off the table, but it seems quite possible the suggestion could be resurrected in certain ways if discussions restart.

Trump last week stated he had been receiving messages that Iran desired to resume discussions, but privately Tehran representatives state they are not yet obtaining consistent overtures from the United States either straightforwardly or from significant local go-betweens, such as the Qatari government, Egypt, the Omani authorities and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian foreign ministry has been criticized of non-responsiveness in the face of Washington's unmediated tactics, but Iran says diplomacy is not part of a show.

Political Standpoint

In his address to the forum, intended to depict the US as a hegemonic power that abuses the idea of worldwide standards, Araghchi said the 12-day war revealed the clash could not be ended by armed force. He stated the assaults began with a US demand for an complete Tehran capitulation and concluded with an complete request for a halt to hostilities.

Iran is convinced the first strikes by Israel were carried out with full US knowledge and coordination, making trust difficult to rebuild.

Negotiations Continues the Primary Solution

The foreign minister said: "Tehran was not the one that had abandoned dialogue; it was America and the Western nations that had consistently sought to enforce their demands during the talks. Negotiations can still be active and continues the ultimate answer to settle disputes, but its standards, rules and principles must be adhered to."

"In case they speak to the nation of Iran with the approach of respect and honor, they will obtain a response in the same language."

Recovery and Reconstruction

In what is portrayed by Iran's diplomats as the conflict of restoration and rebuilding, the foreign minister stated he was certain Iran's defence capabilities "are much stronger than before 13 or 14 June of this year. All our capabilities have been reestablished. We gained multiple understandings from this engagement; we have discovered our own weaknesses and the vulnerabilities of the adversary."

He stated: "We effectively endured this conflict. Our nuclear technology, which they intended to obliterate, stays intact. The installations and gear, if damaged, will be rebuilt; what is crucial is the will of the nation of Iran and then the unity of the country that they sought to undermine, but failed to break. The citizens of Tehran have become more resilient, more cohesive, and more backing of the administration and the country in the aftermath of this assault."