Tehran (TDI): Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iran considers nuclear weapons “unacceptable,” reaffirming Tehran’s longstanding position amid delicate talks with the United States.
Western governments have long suspected Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons to counter the arsenal of its arch-enemy Israel.
If the problem is nuclear weapons, Iran also considers it unacceptable, the foreign minister said in a televised speech. “We agree with the US on this matter.”
Tehran and US have held five rounds of negotiations to reach a new nuclear deal to replace the agreement with major powers President Donald Trump abandoned during his first tenure in the White House.
Read More: US Nears Nuclear Deal with Iran: Trump
The two sides have differences over Tehran’s uranium enrichment program, which the US has said must stop but which Iran argues is its right within the framework of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
However, the US President said on Wednesday that Washington was having some very good negotiations with Teran, adding that he had cautioned Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against attacking the nuclear facilities of Iran as it would not be “suitable right now.”
Read More: IAEA Director General on Iran Nuclear Programme
Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened military strikes, after pummeling Iranian air defenses during two exchanges of fire in 2024.
Trump has not dismissed the possibility of military action but stated he prefers to make an agreement first, and has also said that Israel, and not the US, would take the lead in any such military strikes.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
