Iran has warned that it will respond “in a more decisive manner” if the United States or Israel attacks again, following earlier military strikes on its nuclear facilities. The warning came from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday, in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s threat to “wipe out” Iran’s nuclear programme if it resumes atomic activity. “If aggression is repeated, we will not hesitate to react in a more decisive manner and in a way that will be IMPOSSIBLE to cover up,” Araghchi said in a post on X.
Iran says military pressure won’t stop its nuclear progress
Araghchi also said that if there were genuine concerns about Iran’s nuclear work, then negotiations, not threats, would be more effective. “If there are concerns about the possible diversion of our nuclear program into non-peaceful purposes, the ‘military option’ proved incapable, but a negotiated solution may work,” he said.
It is still unclear how much damage was caused by the US strikes, which followed a surprise Israeli bombing campaign. Israel had claimed it was acting to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The Israeli attacks disrupted the ongoing US-Iran nuclear talks that had restarted in April.
Trump defends strikes, says US will act again if needed
Speaking during a visit to Scotland on Monday, Donald Trump insisted the previous air strikes had been successful. “They can start again. If they do, we’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it,” Trump said. Iran had responded to the earlier attacks with missile strikes on Israeli cities and a US base in Qatar, though Trump had downplayed the response at the time.
Dispute over uranium enrichment remains key obstacle
The key sticking point between the US and Iran has long been over uranium enrichment. Iran insists it has a right to enrich uranium, while Washington considers that a “red line”. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has noted that Iran is currently the only country without nuclear weapons enriching uranium up to 60%, just below the 90% needed for a bomb. Tehran has denied it is pursuing nuclear weapons and said it is open to talks on enrichment levels, but not the right itself. In his post, Araghchi added, “No one in their right mind would abandon the fruits of tremendous investment in homegrown and peaceful technology just because of foreignbullying.”