Iran Says It Won’t Resume Talks With U.S. While “Unreasonable Demands” Continue

Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Tehran will not return to negotiations with Washington as long as the United States continues to make “unreasonable demands,” according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of indirect nuclear talks, which collapsed in June following 12 days of air strikes by Israel and the U.S. targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Talks with the U.S. — including those in New York — were halted and made no further progress due to excessive American demands,” Abbas Araghchi was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Last month, a senior Iranian insider told Reuters that several messages had been sent to Washington through mediators in recent weeks to explore the possibility of resuming dialogue, but “the Americans have not responded.”

Earlier this month, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said that U.S. officials had failed to attend a meeting proposed by Tehran on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Araghchi added that Iran had reached out to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff through intermediaries in the Middle East, reiterating that “Iran has always remained committed to diplomacy and a peaceful resolution.”

The United States, its European allies, and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear program as a cover to develop weapons capabilities. Iran, however, insists that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.