TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was peppered with questions about the possibility of a new round of nuclear talks with the United States as he left a cabinet meeting and encountered journalists waiting outside.
Journalists regularly gather on Tehran’s Pasteur Street every Wednesday to question government officials. A significant number of inquiries focused on the United States and the prospects for new diplomacy this week, following a week of discussions about negotiations between Araghchi and other Iranian officials, and statements by the Islamic Revolution leader about possible normalization with Washington.
Last week’s comments, although mostly pessimistic, spurred speculation that another round of talks could be on the horizon, especially after the US abandoned previous negotiations by bombing Iran midway through the diplomatic process. However, when asked if Iran was looking for a new intermediary to facilitate talks between the two countries, Aragushi said there was no prospect of talks and there was no need for a new intermediary. “What do we need a mediator for if there are no plans to negotiate?” he told journalists.
Araghchi led a diplomatic delegation that participated in five rounds of indirect nuclear negotiations with the United States in April and June. These Oman-mediated talks are scheduled to continue until the sixth meeting in Muscat, where Israel and the United States launched a 12-day bombing campaign against Iranian territory on June 13. The operation targeted Iran’s civilian, nuclear, and military infrastructure and killed approximately 1,100 Iranians, most of them civilians.
The world, especially West Asia, held its breath for 12 days as Israeli and American warplanes targeted Iran and Iranian missiles penetrated air defenses in occupied territory and a US air base in Qatar. There was always the threat of conflict spilling over at any time, and there was a risk of regional conflagration with international repercussions. After the war, Arabs, Europeans, Russians, and Chinese alike were hopeful that the two countries could once again engage in diplomacy, even though the United States had effectively bombed the negotiating table in June. However, it seems highly unlikely that new negotiations will take place. This is not simply because the unprecedented and illegal US invasion reinforced the domestic perception that the US wanted dialogue as a smokescreen. This is also due to America’s tendency to seek negotiations with a predetermined outcome. Iranian Security Secretary Ali Larijani said Washington wants Iran to not only fully restrict its nuclear program, but also to lower the range of its missiles and sever ties with resistance groups. Araghchi said in remarks to reporters Wednesday that Iran would never agree to negotiate non-nuclear issues.
According to Ebrahim Rezai, spokesman for Iran’s parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, the United States’ negotiating actions, combined with its documented history of abandoning its commitments to Iran, have greatly contributed to the distrust and belief that no results can be achieved through negotiations with the American people.
“The United States has already betrayed its promises twice, once in 2018 when the Trump administration scrapped the JCPOA, and once during the Biden administration when the two countries agreed to exchange prisoners,” he told the Tehran Times.
Three years after Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China signed the JCPOA in 2015, President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the United Nations-approved deal, which offered sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities, and reinstated tough sanctions. In September 2023, under the Biden administration, Iran and the United States reached an agreement to release five detainees from both sides and allow South Korea to remit oil money owed to Iran. The $6 billion was indeed transferred from South Korea to two banks in Qatar. However, after securing the prisoners, the US government ordered Doha to freeze Iranian funds again.
“The United States must understand that Iran is an independent and dignified state. It will not allow the United States to dictate its demands and it will not enter into new agreements that will eventually be broken. The United States must first change its own behavior and its views on the Iranian people. Until then, even negotiating with the United States will be harmful,” Rezaee added.
President Massoud Pezeshkian seemed to share the same view in a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron. “Iran always prefers diplomacy, but the West must first regain our trust and prove its sincerity,” he told the French leader.