SAEDNEWS: Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh says the United States has delivered messages to Iran fortalks, but it must give assurances to Iran that it does not intend to take advantage of those talks again.
Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday that the United States has delivered messages to Iran for negotiations, but Washington must give assurances to the Islamic Republic that it does not intend to take advantage of the talks.
The official made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking at a webinar dubbed “Israel’s Aggression on Iran: Next Outlook.” The webinar was held by the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Center for Political and International Studies, which is headed by Khatibzadeh.
The event took place two weeks after a ceasefire ended 12 days of war that began with Israeli airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities and civilian areas on June 13, just three days ahead of a planned sixth round of talks between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran responded powerfully to the regime's attacks, striking various locations across Israeli-occupied territories using ballistic missiles and drones. The Armed Forces also launched a missile strike at a U.S. airbase in Qatar on June 23 after Washington directly entered the war and bombed three major Iranian nuclear sites a day earlier.
The US and Israel claimed that they had sought to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, alleging that the country intended to make a bomb, despite the Islamic Republic’s strong dismissal of the allegation and the confirmation by both U.S. intelligence and the U.N. nuclear watchdog that no diversion had been recorded in the Iranian nuclear activities.
“We are receiving messages to start negotiations, but the other side needs to assure Iran and the international community that it does not intend to misuse the negotiations and realize that if it was unable to reach its goals through war, it should try to sort out things at the negotiating table,” the deputy foreign minister said.
He emphasized that negotiations should be based on equality and mutual interests; otherwise, talks would be rendered meaningless. Iran has repeatedly made it clear that it is sticking to the path of diplomacy, he added.
Diplomacy has always been one of the options, whether in times of war or peace, and negotiations are one of the tools of diplomacy, Khatibzadeh said. However, he added, the right conditions are needed, and the other side should attract Iran’s trust for negotiations to take place.
The official further said that Iran has not invaded any country over the past 200 years, but knows well how to put an end to aggression.
“It is up to them to decide whether they want to deal with us respectfully or through confrontation. What the US did was unforgivable, unforgettable, and a blatant violation of Iran’s rights. It was the first time the U.S. attacked Iran based on a strategic miscalculation, but everyone should realize that this chain of events does not end with Iran,” he said.
The Foreign Ministry official also referred to Europe’s role in resolving the existing standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
He said that Europe failed to fulfill its commitments following the US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
Now, he said, Europe is facing a crucial and defining moment. “If it wants to play a strategic role, it has to prove that it has the cultural and moral credibility to do so. But so far, all it has done is to try to push forward its political agenda,” Khatibzadeh.
