DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat insisted Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers,” striking a maximalist position just after negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program and after nationwide protests.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, indicated that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with President Donald Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel.
While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed Friday’s talks in Oman with the Americans as a “step forward,” Araghchi’s remarks show the challenge ahead. Already, the United States has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into a deal and have the firepower needed to strike the Islamic Republic if Trump chooses to do so.
“I believe that the secret of the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,” Araghchi said. “They are afraid of our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the power of the Islamic Republic is in the power to say no to the powers.”
‘Atomic bomb’ as a rhetorical device
Araghchi’s choice to explicitly use “atomic bomb” as a rhetorical device was probably not accidental. While Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful, the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency have said Tehran had an organized military program to seek the bomb until 2003.
Iran has been enriching uranium to 60% purity, a short and technical step to weapons grade levels of 90%, the only non-weapon state to do so. Iranian officials in recent years have also been threatening more and more that the Islamic Republic may seek the bomb, even while its diplomats pointed to the preaching of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran will not build one.
Pezeshkian, who ordered Araghchi to continue talks with the Americans after likely getting Khamenei’s blessing, also wrote on X on Sunday about the talks.
“The talks between Iran and the United States, which took place through the follow-up efforts of friendly governments in the region, were a step forward,” the president wrote. “Dialogue has always been our strategy for a peaceful resolution… The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but does not tolerate the language of force.”
It is not yet clear when and where, or if, there will be a second round of talks. Trump, after the talks Friday, offered few details but said: “Iran seems to want to make a very bad deal – as it should.”
Aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea
During Friday’s talks, US Navy Administrator Brad Cooper, head of the US military’s Central Command, was in Oman. Cooper’s presence was likely a deliberate reminder to Iran of the US military presence in the region. Cooper later accompanied US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to the Lincoln out in the Arabian Sea after the indirect negotiations.
Araghchi appeared to be taking the threat of a US military strike seriously, as have many worried Iranians in recent weeks. He noted that after multiple rounds of talks last year, the United States “attacked us in the middle of the negotiations.”
“If you take a step back (in negotiations), it is not clear how far you will go,” Araghchi said.