Iran will never engage in negotiations under pressure, intimidation: Araghchi

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has categorically dismissed the possibility of engaging in negotiations under pressure and intimidation.

“We will NOT negotiate under pressure and intimidation. We will NOT even consider it, no matter what the subject may be,” Araghchi said in a post on his X account on Monday.

“Negotiation is different from bullying and issuing diktats,” he added.

He reaffirmed the everlasting peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear energy program, emphasizing that there is fundamentally no such thing as its “potential militarization.”

In an interview with Fox News recorded on March 6, US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran can be handled either militarily or by making a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.

On Saturday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that the insistence of some bullying powers on holding talks with Iran does not aim to solve issues, emphasizing that Iran would never accept the expectations of bullying states.

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 and three European countries have been holding talks on and off since 2021, three years after the United States left the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and reinstated harsh sanctions against Iran.

The trio failed to live up to their promise of bringing Washington back to the deal.

Tehran started to scale down its commitments under the JCPOA in a series of pre-announced and clear steps after witnessing the other parties’ failure to secure its interests under the agreement.

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