Iran sees no reason to resume nuclear talks with European countries, Tehran said, after France, the United Kingdom and Germany expressed their determination to resume them, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
The three countries are behind the UN decision of September 28 to restore international sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, which were lifted a decade ago after the failure of the last talks with Iran.
“What can they do and what positive result could such talks have?“ – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asked on state television. "We really don't see any reason to negotiate with them," he added.
Paris, London and Berlin said yesterday they were "determined to resume negotiations with Iran" on its nuclear program “with the aim of achieving a comprehensive, durable and verifiable agreement that ensures that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon“, a joint statement said.
“France, the UK and Germany must first explain why we should be negotiating with them again at all“, Araghchi said.
“We have already negotiated and reached an agreement, but the United States withdrew and the three European countries did not fulfill their commitments“, the minister added.
In 2015, after years of negotiations, France, the UK, Germany, the US, Russia and China reached an agreement with Iran that provides for restrictions on the country's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
In 2018, during Donald Trump's first term, the US decided to withdraw from the deal and reimpose sanctions, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had complied with its commitments.
Tehran accused the Europeans of failing to prevent the reimposition of US sanctions. In response, Iran has gradually stopped fulfilling some of its obligations, particularly regarding uranium enrichment, prompting the three European countries to launch the procedure for restoring UN sanctions.
Western countries and Israel, a sworn enemy of the Iranian regime, suspect Tehran of seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb, AFP reported. Iran rejects such accusations and insists that its nuclear program has only civilian purposes.
While the Middle East has widely welcomed the ceasefire agreement in the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement "Hamas", Iran is in one of its weakest moments since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Associated Press notes, quoted by BTA.
Tehran has ruled the self-proclaimed "Axis of Resistance" for several decades, supporting armed groups and countries allied with Iran against Israel and the United States. But as Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, it also turned its attention to senior leaders abroad from groups such as Hamas, the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, and and even the top echelons of Iran's military and nuclear program, killing many and crippling their ability to fight back.
As U.S. President Donald Trump heads to the Middle East, where he is likely to be praised by Israel and Arab states, Iran will not be at the table as it struggles to recover from a 12-day war in June, the AP said.
The response of the theocratic government in Tehran in the coming weeks and months - whether that means Iran retaliating or trying to revive its stalled economy - will be crucial.
"This is certainly not a moment that Iran can be proud of," said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based nongovernmental organization. "Its system of alliances in the region is in ruins, but that does not mean that the 'Axis of Resistance' no longer exists," Vaez added.
Iranian state media has tried to portray the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for "Hamas", even though the war has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities in the coastal enclave. Iran's Foreign Ministry has welcomed "any solution that guarantees a halt to the genocide of the Palestinians."
Perhaps more tellingly, an adviser to Iran's 86-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggested that the ceasefire agreement would only lead to conflict in other parts of the region.
"The beginning of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip could be the behind-the-scenes end of the current ceasefire elsewhere!", wrote Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the "Ex" platform, referring to "Hezbollah", the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iraq.
Fear of further Israeli strikes, especially against Iran, remains strong in the minds of the Iranian public, as much of its air defenses were likely destroyed by Israel in June, the AP notes.
Khamenei did not resume his usual practice of delivering weekly speeches to an audience. Meanwhile, Iran has unexplainedly canceled a major military celebration marking the anniversary of the end of the Iran-Iraq War in September, during which senior government officials would normally watch a parade with drones and missile launchers.
Iran's economy has also suffered from international sanctions and a drop in global oil prices, the AP said.
In the years immediately following Iran's Islamic Revolution, the theocratic government sought to spread Shiite revolutionary ideology across the Middle East. After the devastating war with Iraq in the 1980s, it became more of an effort to provide a level of deterrence, as surrounding Arab states purchased sophisticated American bombs, warplanes, and tanks that Tehran could not access due to sanctions.
The US military presence in the Persian Gulf also expanded after the 1991 Gulf War, with Arab states granting basing rights to US forces, much to Tehran's continued displeasure.
The peak of the "Axis of Resistance" came in the chaotic years following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent collapse of Yemen into civil war. It could then count on "Hezbollah", Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the Houthis, Iraqi armed groups, and even "Hamas" - a Sunni Islamist movement.
Today, the Middle East looks very different, the AP notes. Last year, Syrian rebels toppled Assad, Israeli strikes killed the leaders of "Hezbollah" and "Hamas", and Iraqi armed groups have been left in the background. The Houthis, while still capable of attacking Israel and commercial ships in the Red Sea shipping corridor, are now the target of increasingly precise Israeli strikes. And the 12-day war with Israel in June has likely ended Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which the West has long worried could be used to build nuclear weapons.
Iran, meanwhile, has yet to receive significant support from either China or Russia, although it is likely to provide Beijing with oil at reduced, lower prices and Moscow with the drones that Russia uses in its war in Ukraine. Tehran has also refrained from confronting women who increasingly refuse to wear the hijab, a headscarf that covers their hair, and has instead executed prisoners at a rate not seen in decades.
For his part, Trump hailed Iran’s acceptance of the Gaza ceasefire agreement as “great” news. However, there has been no sign of any move to resume normal talks with Tehran over its nuclear program, the AP reports.
"Time is not on Iran's side, but their problem is that no one is giving them a way out," said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran desk at the International Crisis Group. But whether Tehran will seize the opportunity also remains questionable, as Iran's leaders are still debating what course to take now, he concluded.