‘No Reason to Waste Time With Talks’
TEHRAN -- A senior Iranian political official has said that Iran will not enter new negotiations with the U.S. under the previous framework or agenda, applying lessons learned from earlier talks, Press TV reported.
The official, who requested anonymity, stressed Thursday that any negotiations must be consistent with the security realities of the region.
“For now, we think the purpose of the negotiations is to disarm Iran to make up for Israel’s weakness in the next war,” the official said.
“Our intelligence indicates Washington seeks talks to prepare for war, not peace. If so, we see no reason to waste time and would rather focus on preparing for conflict.”
The official added that any new round of negotiations must include “serious and practical guarantees” to ensure the process is not a cover for security deception.
The official outlined key conditions for talks, including serious attention to Israel’s nuclear program and its weapons of mass destruction.
“No one in the region will accept the disarmament of the region while such a bloodthirsty regime becomes more armed every day.”
The official stated that credible punishment of Israel and compensation to Iran are other conditions for negotiations; otherwise, negotiations will once again be a prelude to war.
“This is a problem for the United States, and we do not know how they intend to solve it,” the official added.
Tehran and Washington were engaged in negotiations led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff and had conducted five rounds of indirect talks mediated by Oman when Israel launched a series of unprovoked aggressions which upended the process.
“We must receive guarantees that Mr. Whitkoff is a mediator for a solution, not a firestarter for war,” the Iranian official said Thursday.
“Providing such guarantees is very difficult, but we are ready to give one more chance and listen to what the U.S. has to say on this matter and see its practical actions in this regard.”
Separately, Foreign Minister Araghchi called on the European Union and the three European parties to the JCPOA (Germany, France, and the UK) to abandon “worn-out policies of threat and pressure” if they wish to play a meaningful role in any potential new round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States.
In a statement posted Friday on his official X account, Araghchi made the remarks following a joint video conference with the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Britain, as well as the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
“It was the U.S. that withdrew from a two-year negotiated deal -coordinated by EU in 2015- not Iran; and it was U.S. that left the negotiation table in June this year and chose a military option instead, not Iran,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
The Iranian foreign minister made it clear that any revival of talks would require genuine political will on the part of the West. “A new round of negotiations will only be possible when the other side is ready for a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial agreement,” he stressed.
Araghchi also warned against continued European threats to activate the so-called “snapback” mechanism, which would reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran.
“If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly, and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the ‘snapback’ for which they lack absolutely no moral and legal ground.”