Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described the prospect of direct talks with the United States over its nuclear program as “meaningless.” This comes amid rising tensions between the two countries.
The comments were made on Sunday, after President Trump wrote to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying he hoped to negotiate to keep Tehran from making nuclear weapons.
Trump escalated the rhetoric last week, threatening “if they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.” Araghchi questioned Washington’s offer of talks, asking, “If you want negotiations, then what is the point of threatening?”
Though Tehran maintains it is not seeking nuclear weapons, it has spurned direct approaches from Washington, though it is willing to accept indirect diplomatic approaches. Araghchi repeated this line, stressing that Iran wants to have talks on an “equal footing” with the US, which he characterized as a country that often uses threats of force in contravention of the UN Charter and puts forward conflicting positions from different officials.
For years, Western countries, led by the US, have accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2018, Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a historic deal that granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
Iran has since then reduced its obligations under the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported, accumulating enough fissile material for a number of nuclear bombs.
In reaction to Trump’s war threats, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, said on Saturday that Iran is “ready” for war. “We are not concerned about war at all. We won’t be the one to start the war, but we’re ready for any war,” Salami said in an interview with the official IRNA news agency.
Though, Iran’s power in the region seems to decline as the continuous wars, like the war between Gaza and Israel and Israel’s targeted operations on Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow a year ago, continue.
Iran insists its nuclear programs are for peaceful intentions only, but Israel, another important US ally in the area, is known to have an undeclared nuclear capability.
