According to state media reports, Iran’s foreign minister announced on Saturday that the nation would be open to continuing nuclear discussions with the U.S., provided there are guarantees against further attacks.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addressed diplomats in Tehran, expressing Iran’s consistent readiness for nuclear program negotiations, emphasizing that, “assurance must be given that resuming talks will not escalate to war.”
Highlighting the recent Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military locations and the U.S. attack on June 22, Araghchi stated that for discussions to restart, “there should be a solid promise that such actions won’t occur again. The assault on our nuclear sites has made achieving a diplomatic resolution more challenging.”
Following the strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors.
Araghchi said that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency’s request for cooperation “case by case,” based on Iran’s interests. He also said any inspection by the agency should be done based on Iran’s “security” concerns as well as the safety of the inspectors. “The risk of proliferation of radioactive ingredients and an explosion of ammunition that remains from the war in the attacked nuclear sites is serious,” he said.
He also reiterated Iran’s position on the need to continue enriching uranium on its soil. U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that cannot happen.
Israel claims it acted because Tehran was within reach of a nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the U.S. airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.
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