🔗 Share this article

Tehran is ready to restart nuclear negotiations with Washington on condition that it is treated with "respect" and "honor", Iran's foreign minister has declared.

The Iranian diplomat said only diplomacy worked, and shared new appeals had originated from mediators to restart negotiations with the American leadership. He said Iran possessed no secret atomic facilities, and Iran was not yet able to authorize the International Atomic Energy Agency to access struck enrichment centers for security reasons.

Navigating a Difficult Course

Araghchi is walking a challenging route since Iran wishes not to be perceived to be operating from a stance of disadvantage, and he emphatically stated that Iran had emerged more resilient militarily and emotionally from the coordinated strike on its nuclear sites in June.

He was talking at a strategic meeting in Tehran where he reiterated that Iran had "an inalienable right to refine atomic fuel within its borders that it will always maintain" – the key factor of the deadlock in the prior discussions.

Previous Talks Suddenly Concluded

The earlier sessions of negotiations between the US and Iran were concluded unexpectedly and acrimonious end on 12 June when the Israeli government, with US support, attacked Iran's enrichment centers in a 12-day war that ended with Donald Trump asserting the sites had been obliterated. Following this, Western states exercised their privilege to restore international penalties, but Iran asserts they have not had a substantial consequence.

Ideal Resolution Offered

Iranian officials stated they felt they had attained a "magic solution" to the enrichment issue in earlier negotiations, when it was decided an local partnership with American involvement could refine atomic fuel. The two nations would have been able to claim victory since home-based processing would have persisted and the US could be assured that Iran's nuclear programme was solely for peaceful purposes.

It had not been decided in the talks that American atomic experts could operate inside Iran, but that was a natural consequence of the cooperative offer. Officials stated on multiple occasions they had reached agreement with Trump's special envoy the American negotiator only for the deal to fall apart due to "opponents in the US".

Existing Position

Iranian officials said the cooperative arrangement was now no longer available, but it seems highly likely the offer could be resurrected in certain ways if talks restart.

Trump last week claimed he had been obtaining communications that Iran desired to restart talks, but in private Iran's diplomats state they are not yet receiving coherent offers from America either directly or from key regional mediators, such as the Qatari government, the Egyptian leadership, the Omani authorities and the Saudi kingdom. The Iranian foreign ministry has been accused of inactivity in the wake of the US president's straightforward manner, but Iran asserts diplomacy is not part of a show.

Political Position

In his address to the conference, intended to paint the US as a hegemonic power that exploits the idea of global regulations, the foreign minister declared the two-week conflict revealed the dispute could not be resolved by armed force. He asserted the strikes commenced with a US demand for an complete Tehran capitulation and culminated with an complete request for a truce.

Iran is convinced the initial Israeli attacks were mounted with full US knowledge and coordination, making confidence difficult to reestablish.

Diplomacy Remains the Final Resolution

Araghchi declared: "It was not Iran that had fled negotiations; it was the United States and the European states that had consistently attempted to impose their demands during the talks. Diplomacy can still be viable and remains the primary answer to settle disputes, but its requirements, regulations and fundamentals must be respected."

"In case they address to the nation of Iran with the approach of dignity and respect, they will get a response in the same tone."

Restoration and Rebuilding

In what is characterized by Iran's diplomats as the battle of repair and rebuilding, the foreign minister claimed he was confident Iran's military capacities "are much stronger than before 13 or 14 June of this year. All our capabilities have been restored. We acquired multiple understandings from this engagement; we have discovered our personal limitations and the vulnerabilities of the adversary."

He added: "We managed to survive this engagement. Our atomic expertise, which they intended to obliterate, stays intact. The sites and gear, if damaged, will be restored; what is crucial is the will of the nation of Iran and then the national cohesion that they targeted, but failed to shatter. The Iranian people have grown more resilient, more cohesive, and more backing of the administration and the state in the face of this attack."