Latest update March 26th, 2026 7:55 AM
Iran ready for nuclear-focused talks, rejects US military build-up
(AL-JAZEERA) Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on the United States to respect his country as the two nations look ahead to another round of nuclear negotiations next week following mediated discussions in Oman.
“Our reasoning on the nuclear issue is based on rights stipulated in the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he wrote in a post on X on Sunday. “The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but cannot withstand the language of force”.
Pezeshkian described the indirect talks held in Oman on Friday as a “step forward” and said his administration favours dialogue.
Iranian officials are highlighting sovereignty and independence and are signalling eagerness for nuclear-only negotiations, while rejecting a military build-up in the region by the US.
Speaking at a forum hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, the country’s chief diplomat Abbas Araghchi pointed out that the Islamic Republic has always emphasised independence since overthrowing US-backed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in a 1979 revolution.
A man carries an anti-US placard upside down in front of the Iranian-made missiles displayed in the annual rally commemorating Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran, February 11, 2024 [File: Vahid Salemi/AP]
The messaging comes as the anniversary of the revolution approaches on Wednesday, when state-organised demonstrations have been planned across the country. Iranian authorities have in previous years exhibited military equipment, including ballistic missiles, during the rallies.
Araghchi said during the event in the capital that Iran is unwilling to forego nuclear enrichment for civilian use even if it leads to more military attacks by the US and Israel, “because no one has the right to tell us what we must have and must not have”.
However, the diplomat added that he told US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Muscat on Friday that “there is no way but negotiations”. He said China and Russia have also been informed of the content of the talks.
“Being afraid is lethal poison in this situation,” Araghchi said about Washington amassing what US President Donald Trump has called a “beautiful armada” near Iran’s waters.
‘Push the region back years’
Iran’s top military commander on Sunday issued a new warning that the entire region will be engulfed in conflict if Iran is attacked.
“While being prepared, we genuinely have no desire to see the outbreak of a regional war,” Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi told a gathering of air force and air defence commanders and personnel.
“Even though aggressors will be the target of the flames of regional war, this will push back the advancement and development of the region by years, and its repercussions will be borne by the warmongers in the US and the Zionist regime,” he said in reference to Israel.
According to Mousavi, Iran “has the necessary power and preparedness for a long-term war with the US”.
But many average Iranians are left in limbo without much hope that the talks with the US will lead to results, including for the country’s heavily declining economy.
“I was 20 when the first negotiations with the West over Iran’s nuclear programme were held about 23 years ago,” Saman, who works at a small private investment firm in Tehran, told Al Jazeera.
“Our best years are behind us. But it’s even more sad to think that some of the youth who were born at the start of the negotiations were killed on the streets during the protests last month with many hopes and dreams.”
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