An international affairs expert, referring to Araghchi\u2019s recent remarks, says the latest military strike \u201cdirectly targeted the negotiating table,\u201d and that Iran will return to the path of dialogue only if the United States clearly states its position on Iran\u2019s right to enrichment \u2014 an issue still absent from Washington\u2019s messages and the key factor keeping the talks deadlocked.<\/p>\n
Zahra Torabi \u2013 IranView24<\/strong><\/p>\n In an interview with Iran View 24<\/em>, Abdolreza Faraji Rad, professor of geopolitics, commented on the foreign minister\u2019s statement that \u201cthe first missile hit the negotiating table,\u201d saying: \u201cAfter the U.S. strikes carried out following the fifth round of talks \u2014 strikes which Mr. Trump has claimed he oversaw in coordination with the Israelis \u2014 it was natural for the limited trust that had begun to form in the negotiations to collapse. The minimal confidence that the issues, especially the nuclear file, might be resolved through diplomacy was completely eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cFor this reason, the Iranian side currently shows little interest in responding to U.S. requests conveyed through intermediaries or to Washington\u2019s apparent willingness to negotiate. The reason is clear: the Americans are putting forward no new plan or reliable proposal for moving the negotiations forward. The messages reaching Iran contain no innovation whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n The university professor added: \u201cIran has stated clearly that if the negotiations are to resume after this violation \u2014 what Araghchi described as a \u2018missile hitting the negotiating table\u2019 \u2014 the U.S. must first clarify whether it accepts Iran\u2019s nuclear program and a level of enrichment that meets the country\u2019s scientific needs. This has not been clarified in any of the indirect messages received from Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n Faraji Rad stated: \u201cFor this reason, Iran believes that reentering another round of negotiations with no foreseeable result \u2014 and potentially carrying risks and new threats \u2014 is not logical.\u201d<\/p>\n He went on: \u201cIn recent months, in addition to the nuclear issue, the Americans have sought to bring Iran\u2019s missile program into the negotiations. After Iran\u2019s missile strikes on Israel \u2014 carried out in response to Israeli actions \u2014 Washington concluded that the range and capability of Iranian missiles pose a serious threat to Israel and even to America\u2019s regional allies. Hence, they are now trying to curtail Iran\u2019s missile range as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n The analyst said: \u201cSo far, the Americans have shown no indication of flexibility on these two issues, and this has produced a stalemate. Iran is hoping for a shift in Washington\u2019s position. There is a possibility that the U.S. might offer a limited initial \u2018green light\u2019 on enrichment to kick-start talks, but nothing is certain yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Referring to Araghchi\u2019s remark that Iran \u201chas never left the negotiating table,\u201d he explained the main barrier preventing the resumption of diplomacy: \u201cIran is waiting for a clear message from the United States. The country believes it has spent billions of dollars developing nuclear knowledge and capability. Part of the enriched uranium produced is essential for scientific research and domestic needs. But the U.S. insists this uranium should be imported.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThere is no guarantee that any country \u2014 whether Western or Eastern \u2014 will not impose restrictions in the future. They might stop providing uranium altogether or halt supplies under Western pressure. Therefore, Iran is waiting for a positive signal recognizing a certain level of enrichment. This message has not yet arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing the role of intermediary states, he said: \u201cWe have several mediators \u2014 including Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Switzerland, and occasionally Russia. They transmit messages and maintain diplomatic exchanges. But the messages received so far do not contain what Iran is expecting: no clear sign of approval for any level of enrichment.\u201d<\/p>\n Faraji Rad continued: \u201cTrump occasionally claims he is ready to negotiate or lift sanctions, but he avoids the key point \u2014 whether lifting sanctions would be accompanied by accepting Iran\u2019s right to enrichment. This omission is exactly what has pushed the talks into a deadlock.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, in response to whether direct negotiations could be more effective or whether indirect talks should continue, he said: \u201cAccording to senior Iranian officials, if any talks take place \u2014 and nothing has been formalized yet \u2014 they will be indirect. The U.S. and Trump insist on direct negotiations, while Iran currently favors indirect talks. However, this procedural disagreement is not the main issue. The core issue remains enrichment. If the U.S. agrees on that, even indirect messaging would be enough to unlock the negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An international affairs expert, referring to Araghchi\u2019s recent remarks, says the latest military strike \u201cdirectly targeted the negotiating table,\u201d and that Iran will return to the path of dialogue only if the United States clearly states its position on Iran\u2019s right to enrichment \u2014 an issue still absent from Washington\u2019s messages and the key factor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,70,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis-and-notes","category-conversation","category-the-most-important-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2924,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions\/2924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranview24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}