Iranian FM refuses direct negotiation with US, insists Tehran will never abandon nuclear program

Israel targeted Iran’s key nuclear sites at Isfahan and Natanz last June, while US forces struck both those locations and the heavily fortified Fordo facility.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Iran’s foreign minister declared that Tehran will not engage in direct negotiations with the United States and will never abandon its uranium enrichment program.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was not prepared to hold direct discussions with the US and would reject what he described as “unacceptable and impossible conditions” set by Washington.

“We will never negotiate our missile program, and no rational country would disarm,” he said. “We cannot stop uranium enrichment, and what cannot be achieved by war cannot be achieved through politics.”

Araghchi warned that any future Israeli attack would bring “dire consequences,” asserting that Iran had gained “significant experience” from the 12-day war earlier this year.

He said the Islamic Republic had tested its missiles “in real combat” and was maintaining full readiness “at all levels.”

Israel targeted Iran’s key nuclear sites at Isfahan and Natanz last June, while US forces struck both those locations and the heavily fortified Fordo facility.

Israel has said the coordinated strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back by several years, though officials have not provided details about the fate of enriched uranium stored at those sites.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s statements that Iran’s program was “obliterated,” the International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi told Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung last week that most of Iran’s 60-percent enriched uranium “remains in the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordo, and some in Natanz,” estimating roughly 400 kilograms still in Iranian possession.

Araghchi admitted that nuclear material remained “under the rubble” of the destroyed facilities but insisted that “the technology exists despite the losses.”

Israel has said its military campaign was essential to prevent Iran from advancing toward a nuclear weapon.

The Islamic Republic continues to deny such ambitions, claiming its activities are peaceful even as it enriches uranium to levels far beyond civilian use and restricts international inspections.

Following Israel’s strikes, Iran launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 drones at Israeli targets, killing 32 people and injuring thousands, according to Israeli officials.