{"id":575032,"date":"2026-02-08T11:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/575032\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T11:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:12:14","slug":"irans-top-diplomat-strikes-hard-line-on-us-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/575032\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran’s top diplomat strikes hard line on US talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s top diplomat insisted Sunday that Tehran\u2019s strength came from its ability to \u201csay no to the great powers,\u201d striking a maximalist position just after negotiations with the United States<\/a> over its nuclear program and in the wake of nationwide protests.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium \u2014 a major point of contention with President Donald Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites<\/a> in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.<\/p>\n

While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the talks Friday in Oman with the Americans as \u201ca step forward,\u201d Araghchi\u2019s remarks show the challenge ahead. Already, the U.S. moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln<\/a>, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran\u2019s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,\u201d Araghchi said. \u201cThey fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the Islamic Republic\u2019s power is in the power to say no to the powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Atomic bomb\u2019 as rhetorical device<\/p>\n

Araghchi\u2019s choice to explicitly use an \u201catomic bomb\u201d as a rhetorical device likely wasn\u2019t accidental. While Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful, the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organized military program to seek the bomb up until 2003. <\/p>\n

Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%, the only non-weapons state to do so. Iranian officials in recent years had also been increasingly threatening that the Islamic Republic could seek the bomb<\/a>, even while its diplomats have pointed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u2019s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn\u2019t build one.<\/p>\n

Pezeshkian, who ordered Araghchi to pursue talks with the Americans after likely getting Khamenei\u2019s blessing, also wrote on X on Sunday about the talks. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iran-U.S. talks, held through the follow-up efforts of friendly governments in the region, were a step forward,\u201d the president wrote. \u201cDialogue has always been our strategy for peaceful resolution. … The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but it does not tolerate the language of force.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains unclear when and where, or if, there will be a second round of talks. Trump, after the talks Friday, offered few details but said: \u201cIran looks like they want to make a deal very badly \u2014 as they should.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s talks, U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military\u2019s Central Command, was in Oman. Cooper\u2019s presence was likely an intentional reminder to Iran about the U.S. military presence in the region. Cooper later accompanied U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, to the Lincoln out in the Arabian Sea<\/a> after the indirect negotiations. <\/p>\n

Araghchi appeared to be taking the threat of an American military strike seriously, as many worried Iranians have in recent weeks. He noted that after multiple rounds of talks last year, the U.S. \u201cattacked us in the midst of negotiations.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take a step back (in negotiations), it is not clear up to where it will go,\u201d Araghchi said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s top diplomat insisted Sunday that Tehran\u2019s strength came from its ability…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":575033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[97,3489,66557,3492,396,13229,64,69,57,83,3461,17966,14241,8132,50,375,80,402,235115,13226,2053,67,132,68,93,107],"class_list":["post-575032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","tag-abbas-araghchi","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-ali-khamenei","tag-bombings","tag-brad-cooper","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-iran","tag-iran-government","tag-jared-kushner","tag-masoud-pezeshkian","tag-military-and-defense","tag-news","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-politics","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-steve-witkoff","tag-tehran","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116034715349751728","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}