Iran FM: We're Not Prepared To Negotiate As Long As Aggression Continues

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON, June 21 (KUNA) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country is not ready to hold nuclear negotiations with the US as long as the Israeli occupation continued against Iran.
"We're not prepared to negotiate with them anymore, as long as the aggression continues," Araghchi said in an exclusive interview with NBC news late Friday following his talks with European diplomats.
He reiterated that his government was ready to negotiate but that the Israeli occupation first had to halt its aerial attacks on Iran.
Asked whether a deal with the US could be reached within the two-week time frame recently given by President Donald Trump, Araghchi said it was up to the Trump administration "to show their determination for going for a negotiated solution."
But he suggested Washington was perhaps not genuinely interested in diplomacy and had merely used talks as a "cover" for Israel's air attack.
"So they had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up," Araghchi said. "We don't know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal to diplomacy."
Araghchi said Iran would not give up uranium enrichment as Trump has demanded, and he said he had made that clear to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
"I told him several times zero enrichment is impossible," he said.
Every country has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, Araghchi said.
"There are some direct messages, some indirect messages we're exchanging," Araghchi said. "And we have explained each other's positions to each other in order to prevent misunderstandings."
He added that "doesn't mean negotiation. They have asked us to negotiate, but we negotiate only when it is negotiation and not dictation."
Araghchi also said the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities could not destroy the technical "knowledge" Iran has developed in its nuclear program.
If Trump decides to have the United States strike Iran, Araghchi said, his government reserves the right to retaliate, as it has done against Israel. (end)
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