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US Must Rule Out More Strikes Before Talks Resume – Iran

Iranian minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table.

By Channels Television
Updated June 30, 2025
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FILE: Rocket trails are seen in the sky of Iranian missile attacks (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

 

Diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran cannot resume unless the US rules out further strikes on Iran, its deputy foreign minister told the BBC late Sunday.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the British broadcaster that the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table, a week after it struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.

“We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality,” said Takht-Ravanchi.

“Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?”

The US needed to be “quite clear on this very important question”, he said.

 

Traffic moves past a large banner depicting Iranian commanders and scientists killed in Israeli strikes during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, at Tajrish Square in the capital Tehran on June 30, 2025. Iran warned on June 29 that it had little faith in Israel’s commitment to a fragile ceasefire that ended the most intense and destructive confrontation between the two foes to date. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

 

The two countries were in talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme when Israel hit Iranian nuclear sites and military infrastructure earlier this month, with the US joining by bombing three nuclear sites — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — on June 21.

The deputy minister revealed to the BBC that the US had signalled it did “not want to engage in regime change” by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on June 21, 2025 shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) looks in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025, a handout picture released by the official website of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (C) in Tehran on March 20, 2025, and US President Donald Trump (R) in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (Photo by various sources / AFP)

 

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Takht-Ravanchi also said Iran should still be allowed to enrich uranium.

“The level of that can be discussed, the capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not have enrichment, you should have zero enrichment, and if you do not agree, we will bomb you, that is the law of the jungle,” he said.

Israel claims that Iran’s nuclear programme is close to producing a bomb, whereas Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.

 

This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows a close-up view of craters after US strikes on Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), northeast of the city of Qom. President Donald Trump said US air strikes early on June 22 “totally obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East. (Photo by Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP)

 

It is not clear yet how much damage the strikes inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which US President Donald Trump had said were “totally obliterated”.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran would probably be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months”.

Takht-Ravanchi said he did not know how long it would take.

Under a 2015 deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium below 3.67 percent purity for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Trump abandoned the agreement in 2018 and Iran responded by producing uranium enriched to 60 percent — above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade.

That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.

AFP

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