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12-05-2025
TEHRAN/ MUSCAT: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday that if the United States’ goal is to deprive Iran of its “nuclear rights”, Tehran will never back down over those rights.
Araqchi was speaking in Doha a day ahead of another round of planned nuclear talks between Iran and the US in Oman.
“If the goal of the negotiations is to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights, I state clearly that Iran will not back down from any of its rights,” state media quoted Araqchi as saying.
Iran has repeatedly said its right to enrich uranium is non-negotiable and has ruled out a “zero enrichment” demand by some US officials but US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said in an interview on Friday that Iran’s “enrichment facilities have to be dismantled” under any accord with the United States.
Trump, who withdrew Washington from a 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers meant to curb its nuclear activity, has threatened to bomb Iran if no new deal is reached to resolve the long unresolved dispute.
Western countries say Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran accelerated after the US walkout from the now moribund 2015 accord, is geared toward producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.
“In its indirect talks with the United States, Iran emphasizes its right to peaceful use of nuclear energy and clearly declares that it is not seeking nuclear weapons,” Araqchi said.
“Iran continues negotiations in good faith, and if the goal of these talks is to ensure the non-acquisition of nuclear weapons, an agreement is possible. However, if the aim is to limit Iran’s nuclear rights, Iran will never retreat from its rights.”
Two months ago, US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program.
In Trump’s first remarks since Iran rejected direct negotiations with Washington last week, he told media that US and Iranian officials were talking, but did not elaborate.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said in a telephone interview. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
“There’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago,” he added.
Iran sent a response through Oman to a letter from Trump urging Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal, saying its policy was to not engage in direct negotiations with the United States while under its maximum pressure campaign and military threats, Tehran’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated the policy on Sunday. “Direct negotiations (with the US) have been rejected, but Iran has always been involved in indirect negotiations and now too, the Supreme Leader has emphasized that indirect negotiations can still continue,” he said, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In an interview, Trump also threatened so-called secondary tariffs, which affect buyers of a country’s goods, on both Russia and Iran. He signed an executive order last week authorizing such tariffs on buyers of Venezuelan oil.
Speaking to reporters later, Trump said he is going to make a decision on the secondary tariffs based on whether Tehran makes a deal.
“We’ll probably give it a couple of weeks and if we don’t see any progress, we’re going to put them on. We’re not putting them on right now but if you remember, I did that six years ago, and it worked very well,” he said. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
