Iran’s commitment to avoiding a full-scale war should not be misinterpreted as weakness, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned, as Tehran is still open to dialogue with the US.
In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, Mr Araghchi said Iran has "good reason" to doubt the merits of diplomacy after being “wronged” in last month's war with Israel. His government was now “doubly cautious” about the process, he added.
The US and Iran had been “on the cusp of a historic breakthrough” in nuclear negotiations before Israel launched its “unprovoked” attack on Iranian nuclear sites, Mr Araghchi wrote, with the talks “sabotaged” by Washington’s ally.
Mr Araghchi’s comments came after US President Donald Trump said Iran was actively seeking talks on a new nuclear deal, a claim Tehran denies.
Iranian Foreign Minister
The US-Iran talks fell through after five rounds of discussions that were reported to have produced positive results. On June 13, Israel struck nuclear, military and strategic sites across Iran, killing senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The attacks, which caught Tehran off guard, took place before a scheduled sixth meeting and after a deadline the Trump administration had set for the talks to deliver results had lapsed.
“This was a profound betrayal of diplomacy,” wrote Mr Araghchi. “As Iran-US dialogue was finally gaining momentum, the reckless bombardment sent an unambiguous message: Israel prefers conflict over resolution.”
Iran responded swiftly to the attacks, firing hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israeli cities. The war was their first direct military confrontation after decades of fighting through regional proxies.
The conflict escalated when the US struck three nuclear sites in Iran, an attack Mr Trump described as a "spectacular military success". Mr Araghchi condemned the strikes as a “fateful decision by the US to allow itself to be cajoled into undermining international law”.
Mr Trump then announced an Iran-Israel ceasefire, bringing an end to 12 days of war. The following day Washington said it was re-entering talks with Iran "next week".
“Although Iran has in recent days received messages indicating that the US may be ready to return to negotiations, how can we trust further engagement?” wrote Mr Araghchi. He also accused the US of being “ensnared” in Israel’s wars and said Mr Trump’s promise of “America First” is being twisted into “Israel First”.
His comments reaffirm statements made by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson.
“How are we going to trust the United States again?" the Iranian President said. "We re-enter the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack?”
