Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS News yesterday that Iran will resume talks with the U.S. only if Tehran has guarantees that Washington will not attack again. “I don’t think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,” Araghchi said, referring to President Donald Trump’s statements last week that negotiations could resume in a week. “In order for us to decide to re-engage, we will have to first ensure that America will not revert back to targeting us in a military attack during the negotiations,” he said, in his first interview with an American media outlet inside Iran since the June 21 U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. “And I think with all these considerations, we still need more time.”
Furthermore, Araghchi also insisted, “The doors of diplomacy will never slam shut.”
“One cannot obliterate the technology and science for enrichment through bombings,” he said. “If there is this will on our part, and the will exists in order to once again make progress in this industry, we will be able to expeditiously repair the damages and make up for the lost time.”
When CBS News asked if Iran intends to continue enriching uranium, Araghchi replied, that the country’s “peaceful nuclear program has turned into a matter of national pride and glory. We have also gone through 12 days of imposed war; therefore, people will not easily back down from enrichment.”
