Iran says no ‘direct’ held talks with US despite Trump’s claims
The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the country has held no “direct” talks with the United States until now, but has received messages through some mediators regarding the US desire for negotiations.
“It seems quite natural that when the US raises the issues of negotiations and diplomacy, sensitivities will be increased. It is not clear how much, even inside the US, the country’s claims about diplomacy and negotiations are seriously taken into account. Reactions and reflections also show that the extent of global trust in the US claims in the field of diplomacy is very limited,” Esmaeil Baghaei said at a weekly press conference on Monday.
Unlike the opposite party, which constantly changes its position and makes contradictory statements and adopts a contradictory attitude, Iran has been pursuing a quite clear stance on negotiations with the US, he added.
He noted that based on the issues conveyed to Iran, under whatever title such as the 15-point plan, the other side has made “very excessive, unrealistic and irrational” demands.
Baghaei emphasized that Iran did not participate in a four-sided meeting in Islamabad on Saturday hosted by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.
He appreciated regional and neighboring countries’ concern about peace and security and affirmed Iran’s rational demand that any country or party that deals with the issue of war in the region should pay attention to the issue of which party has launched the war.
“It is necessary to be realistic and fair and stop expecting only one side to exercise self-restraint,” the Iranian spokesman emphasized.
The US and Israel started a fresh round of unlawful military aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country. The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and as well as military commanders.
Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrages of missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.
Iran’s self-defense should not be interpreted as ‘hostile’ move
Baghaei said Iran’s self-defense policies should not be regarded as an attack on regional countries or interpreted as a “hostile” move against any state.
“We expect neighboring countries to abide by their commitments under international law, moral obligations and the principles of brotherhood and neighborliness and not allow the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel) to exploit their territory and facilities to attack a neighboring state,” he added.
IAEA chief adopts ‘very incorrect’ approach to US-Israel war
The Iranian spokesperson said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi has adopted a “very incorrect” approach to the US-Israel war of aggression against Iran, particularly attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.
Instead of condemning the aggressors and holding them accountable for their unlawful attacks, the IAEA chief uses statements in his interviews that further complicate the situation, he added.
Baghaei criticized the IAEA chief’s politically-motivated reports over the past two years, which undermined the agency’s impartiality, saying, “This is while Iran has duly carried out its duties.”
Grossi has recently said that the US-Israeli current aggression on Iran alone could end the country’s peaceful nuclear program, adding that only a catastrophic nuclear war could destroy the country’s capabilities “in an unfathomable way, which we hope, of course, will never be the case.”
In a statement released on Friday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) confirmed that the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant had been struck by a projectile, marking the third attack on the facility.
The AEOI added that the projectile hit the plant earlier in that day, saying initial reports indicated that the incident caused no human, financial, or technical damage.
The US and Israel also targeted the Khondab heavy water complex in the central Iranian city of Arak on Friday for the second time after they attacked the complex during the 12-day war last June.
Also on Friday, they carried out a strike against a yellowcake production facility in the city of Ardakan in the central province of Yazd.
Iran has repeatedly emphasized that targeting peaceful nuclear facilities constitutes a clear violation of international regulations and obligations regarding the immunity of such sites from military attacks.
Linking Ukraine conflict to West Asia developments ‘miscalculation’
Baghaei further said linking the conflict in Ukraine to the current developments in the West Asia region, particularly after the US-Israel military aggression against Iran, is a “very catastrophic miscalculation.”
He emphasized that the beginning of the war by the US and Israel and spreading it across many countries in the region are the clear reasons behind the ongoing complicated situation in the region.
In response to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to provide military assistance to the US allies in the region, Baghaei expressed hope that the countries in the region will be wise enough to not allow such a person, who exposed his country to a very destructive war over the past four years, to pursue his objectives.
