Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that Iran currently has no plans to restart negotiations with the US, contradicting claims made by President Trump, who said a day earlier that Washington and Tehran would hold talks next week.
“Some speculations about the resumption of negotiations should not be taken seriously,” Araghchi said. “I would like to state clearly that no agreement, arrangement, or conversation has been made to start new negotiations. No plan has been set yet to start negotiations.”
The White House also acknowledged on Thursday that no date has been set for talks with Iran. In other comments, Araghchi pointed to the fact that Tehran was engaged in negotiations with the US when the US backed an Israeli attack on Iran and then eventually launched its own direct airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
“In the recent negotiations, they tried to lure us into giving up the rights of our nation. When some certain events occurred, they imposed war and unleashed the criminal Zionist regime to carry out attacks,” Araghchi said.
Negotiations between the US and Iran appeared to be at an impasse before Iran launched its war, as the Trump administration demanded Iran stop enriching uranium, which Iranian officials made clear was a non-starter. However, the talks continued for several rounds, and Iran was set to present a counter-proposal to the US, but Israel began bombing Iran two days before the negotiations.
According to a report from CNN, the Trump administration is considering a deal with Iran that would give the country access to $30 billion in investments — likely from Gulf Arab countries — to rebuild its nuclear facilities, but under the condition that Tehran won’t enrich uranium. Iranian officials are still insisting that they won’t give up uranium enrichment, but it remains unclear how long it would take them to restart an enrichment program.
Araghchi acknowledged that the US did “serious” damage to the nuclear facilities that it bombed and said Iran’s nuclear agency was assessing the extent of it. “A detailed assessment of the damage is being carried out by experts from the Atomic Energy Organization (of Iran),” he said.
