Iranian Foreign Minister: We won’t give in to Trump and we won’t abandon uranium enrichment
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that his country wouldn’t abandon uranium enrichment “even if it forces us to go to war” with the United States, which continues to deploy military build-ups in the region.
Araghchi’s remarks came after the first session of Friday’s talks between Washington and Tehran in Amman, which both sides described as positive and confirmed their desire to resume them soon.
Iran adheres to what it considers to be red lines, as it accepts that the talks only include its nuclear program and affirms its right to a peaceful nuclear program.
The United States, which has deployed a large naval force to the Gulf, is demanding a broader agreement that includes two additional clauses: limiting Iran’s missile capability and ending Tehran’s support for militant groups hostile to Israel.
Israel calls for zero tolerance on these two items, as the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington on Wednesday, his office said Saturday.
Speaking at a forum in Tehran on Sunday and attended by AFP, Araghchi said his country wouldn’t bow to US President Donald Trump’s demands to abandon uranium enrichment “even if war is imposed on us”.
Without giving details, he added that Iran could consider a series of confidence-building measures around the nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions that are suffocating Iran’s economy.
But at a press conference after speaking at the forum, he expressed doubts about the seriousness of the United States in conducting real negotiations.
“Iran will evaluate all the signals and then make its decision on whether to continue negotiations”, he said.
Regarding the US military buildup in the region, Araghchi said, “Their military build-up in the region doesn’t scare us,” following the visit of US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf.
“We’re a diplomatic nation, and we are also a nation of war, but that doesn’t mean that we seek war,” he said.
During the visit to the aircraft carrier, Witkoff said in a social media post: “Today, I met with Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of Central Command,… and Jared Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law), the brave sailors and Marines who keep us safe and support President Trump’s message of peace through force”.
Trump has repeatedly threatened military intervention in Iran, in response to Tehran’s crackdown on protests in January, and then to pressure it to accept a deal.
After Friday’s round of talks between the two sides, in which Araghchi from the Iranian side and Witkoff and Kushner from the US side, Trump spoke of very good talks, stressing that the two sides would meet again early next week.
The talks were the first since the United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities last June during Israel’s attack on the Islamic Republic and turned into a 12-day standoff.
Iranian President Masoud Pazeshkian said on Sunday that the talks, which took place with the support of friendly governments in the region, represent a step forward.
From his part, Araghchi said on Saturday that he had agreed with Washington to hold a new round of talks soon, saying that “there is still a long way to go to build confidence,” reiterated that Iran’s missile capabilities aren’t negotiable.
“They are afraid of our nuclear bomb, while we aren’t seeking to have one… Our nuclear bomb is our ability to say no to the major powers,” Araghchi said.
Iran and the United States began negotiations last spring, but were stalled mainly over the issue of Iranian uranium enrichment, which was toppled by the June war.
Trump said at the time that the US strikes had destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but the true extent of the damage remains unknown.
