US yet unwilling to engage in serious talks, must recognize Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy: FM

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the United States has yet to demonstrate readiness for “real, serious negotiation,” stressing that Washington must first acknowledge Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News agency on Saturday, the top diplomat said the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities were “bombarded, destroyed, and heavily damaged” during the unprovoked and illegal Israeli-American war against the country in June.

He described the assault as “perhaps the biggest violation of international law” ever committed against a safeguarded facility monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Araghchi said the strikes had created structural damage and potential radiation risks that Tehran “has never seen before,” adding that there was “no precedent of a peaceful nuclear facility being bombarded.”

He said the situation had exposed a procedural gap inside the IAEA regarding how to inspect such sites in light of this precedence.

He noted that the Islamic Republic and the IAEA had reached a framework in Cairo earlier this year to define a mechanism for inspecting and stabilizing the damaged facilities, but that the process was undermined when the United States and the three European parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran sought to restore previous UN Security Council sanctions against the nation.

Negotiation means dialogue, not dictation; US has to abandon inflated demands: FM

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran remains open to serious negotiations with the United States, but only if Washington shifts from imposing demands.

Araghchi called on Japan to share its technical expertise in nuclear safety, citing its experience following Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.

He emphasized that any cooperation with Japan would be limited to technical safety issues, not inspections, which he said remained an IAEA responsibility. “On the technical aspects of these safety challenges, cooperation with Japan can be very useful,” the official noted.

Addressing prospects for nuclear talks, Araghchi said Iran remained open to diplomacy, but wanted guarantees of a “fair and balanced” outcome.

He reiterated that the deadlock affecting diplomacy stemmed from American demands, introduced under President Donald Trump, for the Islamic Republic to halt all uranium enrichment processes, a position Tehran categorically rejects.

Iran never abandoned diplomacy; US pushing world toward ‘law of the jungle’: Araghchi

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran remains committed to diplomacy and has not abandoned negotiations with the US.

The foreign minister said the core issue remained Washington’s reluctance to recognize Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology, including enrichment, under the NPT.

According to Araghchi, the Islamic Republic was prepared to accept limitations on enrichment levels and centrifuge types, and negotiations could progress once the United States accepted the country’s peaceful nuclear energy program and lifted the illegal and unilateral sanctions it had imposed on the country.

“For the time being [though], we are not convinced they are ready for a real, serious negotiation,” he said.

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