🔗 Share this article

Iran is prepared to resume atomic negotiations with the United States provided that it is treated with "respect" and "honor", Iran's top diplomat has stated.

Abbas Araghchi stated only diplomacy produced results, and revealed fresh requests had originated from mediators to restart talks with the American leadership. He asserted Iran did not have unreported enrichment locations, and Iran was not yet able to permit the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit attacked atomic facilities for safety concerns.

Walking a Difficult Route

Araghchi is walking a challenging route since Iran aims to avoid be seen to be proceeding from a stance of weakness, and he emphatically stated that Iran had arisen more powerful in military terms and mentally from the joint assault on its enrichment centers in June.

He was talking at a security conference in Tehran where he reaffirmed that Iran had "a fundamental entitlement to enrich uranium within its borders that it will never give up" – the key factor of the deadlock in the previous talks.

Prior Talks Suddenly Terminated

The earlier sessions of negotiations between the US and Iran were brought to an abrupt and bitter termination on 12 June when the Israeli government, with American backing, targeted Tehran's atomic facilities in a fortnight-long engagement that culminated with Donald Trump asserting the locations had been obliterated. Subsequently, Western states exercised their privilege to reinstate UN-wide sanctions, but Iran insists they have not had a substantial consequence.

Ideal Resolution Offered

Iranian officials said they felt they had attained a "magic solution" to the enrichment issue in prior discussions, when it was agreed an Iran-based consortium with Washington's engagement could enrich uranium. Both sides would have been able to declare success since domestic enrichment would have continued and the US could be certain that Iran's nuclear programme was exclusively peaceful.

It had not been settled in the discussions that US nuclear scientists could work inside Iran, but that was a reasonable assumption of the cooperative offer. Diplomats stated three times they had achieved a deal with Washington's diplomat the American negotiator only for the arrangement to disintegrate due to "opponents in the US".

Current Situation

Tehran representatives stated the consortium offer was now no longer available, but it seems highly likely the proposal could be resurrected in certain ways if negotiations reopen.

The US president recently stated he had been obtaining communications that Iran sought to reopen negotiations, but privately Iranian officials state they are not yet receiving consistent overtures from America either explicitly or from important Middle Eastern intermediaries, such as the Qatari government, Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian foreign ministry has been accused of inactivity in the face of Trump's direct instinctive approach, but Iran says negotiations is not part of a spectacle.

Negotiating Position

In his speech to the conference, designed to portray the US as a dominant force that abuses the concept of global regulations, Araghchi said the two-week conflict demonstrated the conflict could not be settled by military means. He said the strikes commenced with a American requirement for an complete Tehran capitulation and concluded with an absolute demand for a halt to hostilities.

Iran is certain the opening assaults from Tel Aviv were executed with total Washington understanding and coordination, making trust challenging to restore.

Diplomacy Continues the Final Answer

Araghchi declared: "It was not Iran that had fled diplomacy; it was America and the European states that had repeatedly tried to impose their will during the discussions. Negotiations can still be viable and continues the primary answer to address disputes, but its criteria, guidelines and tenets must be adhered to."

"Provided that they talk to the nation of Iran with the language of dignity and respect, they will obtain a answer in the same language."

Restoration and Rebuilding

In what is described by Iran's diplomats as the battle of recovery and reconstruction, Araghchi claimed he was certain Iran's defence capabilities "are considerably enhanced than before 13 or 14 June of this year. Every aspect of our defense have been restored. We learned multiple understandings from this conflict; we have come to know our internal vulnerabilities and the shortcomings of the adversary."

He stated: "We managed to survive this engagement. Our enrichment knowledge, which they aimed to destroy, continues to exist. The installations and gear, if eliminated, will be restored; what is essential is the resolve of the nation of Iran and then the national cohesion that they sought to undermine, but failed to break. The citizens of Tehran have grown more powerful, more united, and more backing of the leadership and the nation in the wake of this invasion."