The United States must rule out Iran strikes if it wants to resume diplomatic negotiations, Tehran's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs told the BBC.
Majid Taht-Ranvanchi says the Trump administration told Iran through mediators that she wanted to return to the negotiations, but “did not clarify its position on the” very important question “for further attacks while talking.
Israel's military operation, which began in the early hours of June 13, destroyed the sixth round of mainly indirect negotiations to be held in Muscat two days later.
The United States has joined the conflict between Israel and Iran last weekend when they headed for three Iranian nuclear sites in the bombing attack.
Takht-Ranvanchi also said Iran would “insist that” be able to enrich Uranus for what he writes are peaceful goals, rejecting the accusations that Iran is secretly moving towards the development of a nuclear bomb.
He said Iran was “denied access to nuclear materials” for his research program, so it is necessary to “rely on ourselves”.
“The level of this can be discussed, capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not be enriched, you must have zero enrichment and if you do not agree, we will bomb you – this is the Jungle Act,” said the deputy minister.
Israel began its attacks on nuclear and military sites, as well as the killings of commanders and scientists in Iran on June 13, claiming that Tehran was close to the construction of nuclear weapons.
Iran replied by attacking Israel with rockets. The hostilities lasted 12 days, during which the United States launched bombs of three of Iran's nuclear sites: Fordo, Nathan and Isfahan.
The degree of damage caused to Iran's nuclear program by American strikes is not unclear and Taht-Ranvanchi said he could not give an accurate assessment.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the strikes had caused severe but “not filling” damage while US President Donald Trump said Iran's nuclear facilities were “completely deleted”.
Grossi also said that Iran has the capacity to start enriching Uranus again for a “question of months”. In response, Taht-Ranvanchi said he did not know if this would be the case.
Iran's relationship with Iran is becoming more or so. On Wednesday, Parliament moved to stop collaboration with the nuclear guard, accusing Maa of being committed to suicide with Israel and the United States.
Trump said he would “absolutely” would think again about bombing Iran if intelligence finds that this could enrich Uranus in the levels.
Takht-Ranvanchi said no date was agreed to a possible return to the conversations and he did not know what would be on the agenda after Trump suggested that the discussions be held this week.
Iran's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said: “We are currently looking for an answer to this question: will we see a repetition of an act of aggression as we participate in dialogue?”
He said the US should be “completely clear on this very important issue” and “what they will offer us to make the necessary confidence needed for such dialogue.”
Asked if Iran could consider rethinking its nuclear program as part of any transaction, probably in exchange for facilitating sanctions and investment in the country, Taht-Ranvanchi replied: “Why should we agree with such a proposal?”
He reiterated that Iran's program, including uranium enrichment up to 60%, was “for peaceful purposes”.
According to the 2015 nuclear transaction with the world forces, Iran was not allowed to enrich uranium over 3.67% cleanliness – the level needed for commercial nuclear power plants – and was not allowed to enrich the Fordo factory for 15 years.
However, Trump gave up the 2018 agreement during his first term as president, saying he had done too little to stop the bomb and restore US sanctions.
Iran revenge, increasingly violating restrictions – especially those related to enrichment. He resumed the enrichment in Ford in 2021 and accumulated enough 60%uranium to make a potentially nine nuclear bombs, according to the IAAE.
Squeezed to European and Western leaders who lack confidence in Iran, Taht-Ranvanchi has accused some European leaders of “ridiculous” approval of US and Israeli strikes.
He said that those who criticize Iran for his nuclear program “must criticize the way we were treated” and criticize the US and Israel.
He added: “And if they do not have the interior of criticizing America, they must remain silent, not try to justify aggression.”
Taht-Ranvanchi also said Iran was receiving messages through intermediaries, that the US “did not want to get involved in changing the regime in Iran”, heading for the country's supreme Ayatola Ali Hamenei.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Iranians to “rise for their freedom” to overthrow Hamenei's clerical rule, but after reaching fire last week, Trump said he did not want the same.
Takht-Ravanchi insisted that this would not happen and the idea was “tantamount to useless exercise”.
He said that although some Iranians “may have criticism of some government actions when it comes to foreign aggression, they will be combined to face it.”
The deputy minister said it was “not quite clear” if the cessation of the fire with Israel would continue, but Iran would continue to observe “as long as there is no military attack against us”.
He said Iran's Arab allies in the Persian Gulf “do their best to try to prepare the necessary atmosphere for dialogue.” Qatar is known to have played a key role in the mediation of the present ceasefire.
He added: “We don't want a war. We want to join dialogue and diplomacy, but we must be prepared, we must be cautious, not to be surprised again.”
Lyse Doucet is allowed to report from Iran provided that none of her reports is used by the BBC Persian Service. This law of Iranian authorities applies to all international media agencies operating in Iran.