Defiant tone emerges after Friday’s Oman negotiations

Reiterating Tehran’s core demand, Araghchi said, “Zero-level enrichment is in no way acceptable to us.”

By World Israel News Staff

Speaking on Sunday, days after indirect negotiations with the United States were held in Oman, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a defiant tone, saying there was “no choice but to negotiate” and arguing that Washington had already exhausted other options.

“That is something I told the American team just the other day,” Araghchi said. “Their presence at the negotiating table stems from this point, because they have already tried other paths.”

Araghchi said talks would succeed only if Iran’s rights were fully respected. “Negotiations will reach results only when the right of the Iranian people is recognized and respected,” he said. “We are not asking anyone to grant us recognition. Our right already exists and is official. We demand that it be respected.”

Warning against concessions, he said Iran’s resistance had come at a high cost. “If we give up this right, the price the country would have to pay would be far higher,” he said, adding that yielding during the recent 12-day war would have left “a permanent stain of shame in Iran’s history.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian echoed that message, calling the talks “a step forward” supported by friendly regional governments.

“Dialogue has always been our strategy for peaceful resolution,” he said, stressing that Iran’s nuclear position is based on rights enshrined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. “The Iranian nation responds to respect with respect, but it will not tolerate the language of force.”

By contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump described the talks as “very good” and said Iran “wants to make a deal,” while warning of consequences if negotiations fail.

“They know the consequences if they don’t,” Trump said. “If they don’t make a deal, the consequences are very steep.” At the same time, he said, “We’re in no rush,” adding that the sides would meet again early next week.

Later on Sunday, Araghchi sharpened Iran’s red lines, insisting that ballistic missiles and regional issues “are not on the agenda of the negotiations” and never have been. “The discussion is about the nuclear issue, and that is how it will continue,” he said.

He also confirmed that Iran rejected any military presence during the talks. “We clearly stated that we do not accept the presence of a military figure during our negotiations,” Araghchi said, dismissing U.S. requests linked to the attendance of the head of U.S. Central Command.

Reiterating Tehran’s core demand, Araghchi said, “Zero-level enrichment is in no way acceptable to us.” Instead, he said discussions should focus on arrangements under which enrichment continues inside Iran alongside confidence-building steps to ensure the program is peaceful.

“With confidence-building, we have no problem,” he said, “but the principle of enrichment in Iran must be recognized and accepted.”

Iran’s military chief, Mohammad Bagheri Mousavi, also weighed in, saying Iran had no interest in starting a regional war. “Those who ignite a regional war are the aggressors,” he said, warning that such a conflict would set the region back years and that its consequences would fall on “the Americans and the Zionist regime.”