In a pointed challenge to President Donald Trump, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a hard line against Washington on Sunday, making clear that Iran would not agree at any stage to stop enriching uranium on its own territory.
Speaking at a foreign policy conference in Tehran, Araghchi said Iran was not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, adding that "our atomic bomb is the ability to say no to the great powers." He emphasized, "We are not afraid of the American military and are not deterred by its deployment in the region."
The senior Iranian official insisted that negotiations held with the US in Oman dealt exclusively with the nuclear file, and that other issues such as Iran's ballistic missile program and Tehran's funding of terrorist organizations were not discussed.
"There was no direct meeting with the other side during the negotiations, but there was a diplomatic courtesy meeting in which we shook hands," Araghchi said. "Missiles are not on the agenda of the talks." He added that "they never were and are not a subject for negotiation. The discussion now is about the nuclear issue, and that is how it will continue."
Araghchi also addressed the presence of the commander of US Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, at the meeting. "The presence of the CENTCOM commander changes nothing about the substance of the matter for us," he said. "We were told he had come in order to depart from there for a visit to his aircraft carrier. There was a request from the Americans that, within that same context and customary courtesy meeting that usually takes place, he would also be present. We strongly objected and said we do not accept the presence of a military figure during our negotiations. Whatever his purpose in coming, he achieved it."
