Tehran, Iran
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Even with US forces poised to strike Iran, the nation’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi informed NCS Sunday that he was “confident that we can achieve a deal” with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear weapons program.
“Unfortunately, we have lost our trust [in] the US as a negotiating partner,” he stated, however the alternate of messages via pleasant international locations within the area was facilitating “fruitful” talks with the US.
There seemed to be comparable optimism on the US facet this weekend. Aboard Air Force One Saturday, US President Donald Trump informed reporters that Iran was “talking to us, seriously talking to us.”
Refusing to vow that Iran would interact in direct talks with US negotiators, Araghchi highlighted the necessity to handle the “substance of negotiations” relatively than the shape.
His remarks got here as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, struck a defiant tone, warning that any US strike on Iran would lead to a regional battle.
Khamenei informed a crowd on the Imam Khomeini mosque in Tehran on Sunday that Iran doesn’t “intend to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will deliver a firm blow to anyone who attacks and harasses it,” in keeping with state media.
“The Americans should know that if they initiate a war, this time it will be a regional war,” he stated, posting comparable remarks on X.
Progress in the direction of renewed negotiations seems to have came across Iranian calls for that they think about nuclear points – and the US refusal to scale back its massive military presence within the area, which looms massive over any diplomatic efforts.
Pressed by NCS on questions of Iran’s intensive missile arsenal – believed to have been largely rebuilt following final 12 months’s battle with Israel – and the nation’s regional proxies, just like the Yemen-based Houthis which have harassed regional delivery, Araghchi stated the main focus should be on Iran’s nuclear capabilities as a substitute.
“Let’s not talk about impossible things,” he stated, “And not lose the opportunity to achieve a fair and equitable deal to ensure no nuclear weapons. That as I said, is achievable even in a short period of time.”
In return, Araghchi stated that Tehran would count on the lifting of US sanctions – which have been a yoke across the neck of the Iranian economic system for greater than a decade – in addition to respect for Iran’s proper to proceed nuclear enrichment for peaceable functions.
If talks fail, Iran was prepared for battle, Araghchi promised, though a battle would possible spiral past Iran, he stated, echoing Khamenei’s feedback.
But a battle, “would be a disaster for everybody,” Araghchi stated, and US bases throughout the area could be targets for Iran’s military, which had seen the restrictions and strengths of its missile arsenal in final 12 months’s 12-day battle in opposition to Israel.
Human rights teams have estimated that no less than a number of thousand folks had been killed in road protests throughout Iran final month, which led Trump to warn Tehran that the US would perform strikes in opposition to the regime.
Trump declined on Saturday to say whether or not he has selected a possible military strike in opposition to Iran.
“Some people think that. Some people don’t,” Trump stated when requested about considerations that backing away from a strike would embolden Tehran.
Trump once more refused to offer specifics a few potential military strike, repeating feedback he has made beforehand.
“I certainly can’t tell you that, but we do have very big, powerful ships heading in that direction,” he stated. “As you know, I can’t tell you. I hope they negotiate something that’s acceptable.”
Regional efforts to avert battle have concerned a flurry of diplomatic exercise in latest days, together with a go to to Tehran by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani on Saturday.
Qatar’s overseas ministry stated the 2 sides “reviewed ongoing efforts to de-escalate the tensions in the region.”
There was additionally a name Saturday between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Egyptian chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who “reiterated Egypt’s persistent efforts aimed at bringing the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table,” in keeping with a press release from the Egyptian presidency.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and it is firmly convinced that a war would be in the interest of neither Iran, nor the United States, nor the region,” Pezeshkian informed Sisi, in keeping with the Iranian presidency.
On the streets of Tehran, the violent suppression of January’s protests is on the forefront of individuals’s minds.
Asked concerning the authorities response, Araghchi blamed “terrorist elements” receiving orders from overseas for stirring up dissent and upsetting violence, as have Khamenei and Iranian state media all through the disaster.
Talking concerning the violent peak of protests, he stated, “We consider these three days as the continuation of those 12 days of war that was an operation led by Mossad from outside and of course, we crushed that operation.”
“There was no plan for the execution or hanging” of protesteors, he stated, denying Trump’s assertion that he had acquired ensures from Iran that executions could be halted.
“I can affirm that the right to each and every person who is arrested and detained would be observed and guaranteed,” he stated.