Tel Aviv: The Russian backup for Iran’s security policy is the main reason for Tehran’s total rejection of the US demand to stop its military nuclear program. This is the assessment of Israeli analysts.
The Islamic Republic will never participate in talks intended to dismantle its nuclear program, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on March 9, a day after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected nuclear talks with world powers, according to a report in Iran International, the website operated from London by the opposition to the regime in Tehran.
“If the objective of negotiations is to address concerns vis-a-vis any potential militarisation of Iran’s nuclear program, such discussions may be subject to consideration,” Iran’s UN mission said in a post on its official X account.
However, it added, “Should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place.”
A few hours later, Iran’s foreign minister appeared to revise the statement by Tehran’s UN mission.
“Iran’s nuclear energy program has always been—and will always remain—entirely peaceful. There is fundamentally no such thing as its ‘potential militarisation’,” Abbas Araghchi said.
“We will NOT negotiate under pressure and intimidation. We will NOT even consider it, no matter the subject,” he added in a post on his X account.
On March 8, Khamenei dismissed the prospect of talks with the United States in his first public speech after President Donald Trump said he sent a letter to him.
“The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiations is not aimed at resolving issues but rather at asserting dominance and imposing their demands,” Khamenei said in a meeting with Iranian officials in Tehran.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly not accept their demands,” he added.
The White House, responding to Khamenei’s comments, reiterated Trump’s assertion that Tehran can be dealt with either militarily or by making a deal.
“We hope the Iran regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement.
A State Department spokesperson also told Iran International that the Trump administration will maintain its maximum pressure campaign on Iran if Tehran refuses to reach an agreement.
Trump warned on March 7 that the situation with Iran had reached a critical stage, adding that he preferred to reach a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program than turn to military force.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
