Araghchi reaffirms Tehran will never negotiate under pressure, intimidation
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Tehran’s position over talks on its nuclear program, saying that the Islamic Republic will not negotiate under pressure and intimidation.
Iran’s top diplomat in a post on his X account on Monday said, “We will NOT negotiate under pressure and intimidation. We will NOT even consider it, no matter what the subject may be”.
“Negotiation is different from bullying and issuing diktats,” he added.
He reaffirmed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear energy program, emphasizing that there is fundamentally no such thing as its “potential militarization.”
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations said on Sunday if the objective of negotiations with Iran is to address concerns about any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program; such discussions may be subject to consideration.
“However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama (former US president) failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place,” the mission said in a post on its X account.
In recent months, the US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his interest to reach an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program.
However, his language of threats and imposition of sanctions against Iran have made Iranian officials skeptical of negotiations with the US administration.
Trump last month restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero.
Iranian officials have frequently said that negotiations under pressure are not meaningful.
In his post, Araghchi said consultations between Iran and the European troika – France, Germany and Britain – and separately with Russia and China are underway “on equal footing and mutual respect.”
“The aim is to explore ways to build more confidence and more transparency on our nuclear energy program in return for the lifting of unlawful sanctions,” the top Iranian diplomat explained.
He noted that the US enjoyed Iran’s respect in the past whenever it was respectful in its discourse, but it was confronted whenever it adopted a threatening posture.
“Every action compels a reaction,” Araghchi stated.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Iran and the three European countries will hold new talks in the coming days.