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Iran is ready to restart atomic negotiations with Washington provided that it is approached with "respect" and "honor", Tehran's top diplomat has announced.

Abbas Araghchi stated solely negotiations produced results, and disclosed new appeals had originated from intermediaries to resume discussions with the Trump administration. He asserted Iran possessed no secret atomic facilities, and Tehran was not yet able to allow the UN nuclear inspectorate to visit bombed nuclear sites for security reasons.

Walking a Difficult Path

Araghchi is walking a complex path since Iran does not want be perceived to be operating from a situation of weakness, and he insisted repeatedly that Iran had emerged more powerful in military terms and psychologically from the coordinated strike on its enrichment centers in June.

He was talking at a strategic meeting in Tehran where he restated that Iran had "an absolute privilege to enrich uranium on home soil that it will never give up" – the primary cause of the impasse in the prior discussions.

Earlier Discussions Suddenly Ended

The earlier sessions of discussions between the United States and Iran were ended suddenly and hostile termination on 12 June when Israel, with Washington's assistance, struck Iranian nuclear sites in a 12-day war that culminated with the US president asserting the sites had been destroyed. Following this, Western states used their right to reinstate UN-wide sanctions, but Iran asserts they have not had a significant effect.

Perfect Agreement Proposed

Iran's diplomats said they felt they had reached a "ideal resolution" to the enrichment issue in previous talks, when it was agreed an domestic cooperative with Washington's engagement could enrich uranium. The two nations would have been able to claim victory since home-based processing would have remained and the US could be confident that Iran's nuclear programme was solely for peaceful purposes.

It had not been settled in the negotiations that American atomic experts could function inside Iran, but that was a reasonable assumption of the cooperative offer. Representatives stated three times they had secured an understanding with Trump's special envoy the US official only for the arrangement to fall apart due to "opponents in the US".

Current Status

Tehran representatives stated the cooperative arrangement was now withdrawn, but it seems quite possible the offer could be reintroduced in various formats if talks resume.

The US president recently claimed he had been obtaining communications that Iran sought to reopen negotiations, but in private Iran's diplomats state they are not yet getting consistent overtures from Washington either straightforwardly or from important Middle Eastern intermediaries, such as Qatar, the Egyptian leadership, the Omani authorities and the Saudi kingdom. The Iranian foreign ministry has been criticized of passivity in the wake of the US president's straightforward manner, but Tehran says dialogue is not part of a spectacle.

Diplomatic Stance

In his address to the conference, designed to depict the US as a controlling nation that abuses the idea of global regulations, the foreign minister said the two-week conflict demonstrated the clash could not be resolved by armed force. He said the strikes started with a US demand for an complete Tehran capitulation and concluded with an complete request for a halt to hostilities.

Iran is convinced the initial Israeli attacks were executed with full US knowledge and cooperation, making confidence hard to rebuild.

Diplomacy Stays the Ultimate Answer

The foreign minister said: "Tehran was not the one that had deserted dialogue; it was America and the western countries that had repeatedly sought to dictate their will during the talks. Diplomacy can still be active and continues the final solution to address disagreements, but its requirements, regulations and tenets must be adhered to."

"In case they address to the Iranian people with the approach of respect and honor, they will obtain a reply in the same approach."

Repair and Reconstruction

In what is portrayed by Iranian officials as the conflict of repair and rebuilding, Araghchi claimed he was confident Iran's defence capabilities "have significantly improved than before 13 or 14 June of this year. Every aspect of our defense have been reestablished. We learned multiple understandings from this war; we have come to know our own weaknesses and the vulnerabilities of the adversary."

He added: "We effectively endured this conflict. Our nuclear technology, which they aimed to eliminate, continues to exist. The sites and gear, if destroyed, will be restored; what is essential is the determination of the citizens of Tehran and then the unity of the country that they targeted, but did not succeed to break. The nation of Iran have grown more powerful, more integrated, and more supportive of the administration and the nation in the face of this assault."