Iran’s foreign minister said Monday that renewed talks with the United States may no longer be possible after recent U.S. and Israeli military action, as Tehran also tried to project stability following the appointment of a new supreme leader.
In an interview with PBS News, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he did not think negotiations with Americans “would be on our agenda anymore.” He pointed to earlier talks over Iran’s nuclear program and said Tehran had been assured during the last round of negotiations in February that there was no intention to attack Iran, only for the U.S. to later strike three Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Araghchi also addressed the widening economic fallout from the conflict, especially rising oil prices and fears over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. He said Iran had not closed the vital waterway and was not blocking navigation, but argued that tanker traffic had slowed because of what he called U.S. and Israeli aggression.
He also defended the strikes by Iran on US bases and other facilities in the region, saying that this was retaliation, and that Iran had warned the countries in the region that any US aggression would lead to the war spreading throughout the region.
Araghchi said it’s too early to determine whether the Iranian government’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will comment on renewed relations with the US, but added that the elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei to his position represents “continuity and some sort of stability at the same time.”
The change in leadership came just a little more than a week after Ali Khamenei was killed in Israeli strikes, marking the end of his 36-year reign. Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen to be his successor on Sunday. President Donald Trump, however, criticized the choice, saying, “It’s a big mistake” in his statement to NBC, and later told CBS News that he had someone else in mind, although he did not reveal who that someone is.
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