Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic refuses to restart the talks concerning its nuclear program where they were left off before Israel’s devastating 12-day offensive on its nuclear and military targets in June.
“We were serious about the negotiations on sanctions relief. We had five rounds of negotiations and had fixed a date for the sixth round, but two days before that Israel launched a military attack and the US joined it,” Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Iran International as saying.
“After this unjust war, naturally the negotiations will have a different shape compared to before the war. It is not the case that after the war, we would just return to the negotiating table and as you call it ‘business as usual’,” Araghchi was quoted as saying. “This is certainly not possible as the circumstances have changed. It is not possible to enter negotiations as before the war.”
On June 13 Israel launched a devastating offensive against regime targets, including nuclear sites, defense systems, high-ranking military officials and atomic scientists. The 12-day war came to a halt after U.S. In retaliation, Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles on civilian areas in Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
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Israeli officials said the attack was launched as Iran increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, an assessment borne out by a United Nations report published earlier this week.
The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of June 13, Iran had 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 32.3 kilograms since the IAEA’s last report in May.
The report stated that this figure is “based on the information provided by Iran, agency verification activities between 17 May 2025 and 12 June 2025 (the day preceding the start of the military attacks), and estimates based on the past operation of the relevant facilities.”
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Meanwhile IAEA chief Rafael Grossi confirmed the watchdog had no information from Iran on the status or whereabouts of its stock of highly enriched uranium since the 12-day war.
Tehran has now passed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA and stipulating any future inspections will need a green light from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.