Iran is approaching talks in Oman with the United States over its nuclear programme with deep suspicions regarding Washington’s motives, following the latter’s repeated threats of military action in the lead-up to the meeting.
US President Donald Trump announced this week that his administration would have “direct” talks with Tehran on Saturday. But his warning that Iran would be in “great danger” if talks failed comes after recent threats to bomb the country.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi demonstrated Tehran’s willingness to engage on Tuesday, insisting amid the threats that the talks would nevertheless be “indirect”, he issued a note of warning, saying “Iran prefers diplomacy, but it knows how to defend itself”.
In an opinion piece published Tuesday in the Washington Post, Araghchi alluded to “a significant wall of mistrust” and “doubts about the sincerity of intentions” exacerbated by the US’s revival of its “maximum pressure” campaign in the run-up to talks.
Behind the scenes, three Iranian officials told news agency Reuters that Trump’s warnings were seen as a tactic “to box the Islamic Republic into accepting concessions in the talks Trump demands or face air strikes”.
“Trump wants a new deal: end Iran’s regional influence, dismantle its nuclear programme, and halt its missile work. These are unacceptable to Tehran. Our nuclear programme cannot be dismantled,” a senior Iranian official told the news agency.
Iran’s suspicion may have been heightened by the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House when Trump announced Saturday’s talks.
Netanyahu, who has repeatedly urged US governments to use strikes against Iran’s nuclear programme, said a diplomatic solution would be good if it was done “in a full way”, citing the complete dismantling of Libya’s atomic programme in 2003.
Israel, which has engaged in tit-for-tat attacks on Iran as regional tensions mounted amid Israel’s war on Gaza, severely weakened Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah last year as it destroyed much of the group’s weapons arsenal and killed much of its leadership, including long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Tehran’s position in the region was weakened further by the toppling of another key partner, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, by the country’s opposition last year.
Analyst Tohid Asadi, speaking from Tehran, said that the signals from Iran and the US were at odds.
“[Araghchi] said under these circumstances, in which we see pressure and threats directed from the United States, there’s no possibility for direct talks … That’s contradictory to what we heard from the US President Donald Trump, who said the two sides are getting ready for direct talks,” Asadi told Al Jazeera.
Russia and China ‘following’ talks
Ahead of Saturday’s talks in Oman, the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, China and Iran met in Moscow, with the Kremlin welcoming the opening of dialogue between Washington and Tehran.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow “absolutely” supported the initiative. “This can only be welcomed because it can lead to de-escalation of tensions around Iran,” he said.
Russia’s lower house of parliament also ratified on Tuesday a 20-year strategic partnership with Iran, a sign of the deepening military ties between the two countries.
China offered pointed criticism of Washington, calling out Trump for tearing up a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers – the US, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany – that saw Iran receive sanctions relief in return for curbing nuclear activities.
“As the country that unilaterally withdrew from the comprehensive agreement on the Iran nuclear issue and caused the current situation, the United States should demonstrate political sincerity [and]… mutual respect,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian.
Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, during his first presidency.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said Russia and China had agreed “to follow what is happening to the nuclear deal between Iran and the US, particularly in terms of the US rhetoric to resolve this issue by force”.
Defence ‘non-negotiable’
Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal was followed by an Iranian decision to stop complying with obligations under the agreement.
The result has been that Iran has built up large stocks of highly enriched uranium that leave it a short step from weapons-grade, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The agency said in February that Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilogrammes (606 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent. Weapons-grade is around 90 percent.
But Iran has repeatedly insisted in the past that its nuclear activities are solely for civilian purposes.
Israel, which bitterly opposed the 2015 agreement, is widely believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal. There has been widespread speculation that Israel might attack Iranian facilities if no new agreement is reached in the upcoming US-Iran talks.
“Our defence is non-negotiable. How can Tehran disarm when Israel has nuclear warheads? Who protects us if Israel or others strike?” an Iranian official asked in an interview with Reuters.
Iran has withstood repeated sanctions programmes over recent decades, and Iranian military leaders have previously threatened to cut off regional oil exports – a significant proportion of the global energy supply.