Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that his country still has the capability to enrich uranium while it continues to be compliant with the fatwa by its Leader that bans possession of any weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
In a recent interview with Financial Times (FT), the top Iranian FM stressed that ‘the road to negotiation is narrow’ as he lays out conditions for renewed diplomacy after war.
The US must agree to compensate Iran for losses incurred during last month’s war, the Islamic Republic’s FM said, as Tehran hardens its position and imposes new conditions for resuming nuclear talks with the Trump administration.
Araghchi further said that Iran would not agree to “business as usual” in the wake of the 12-day conflict with ‘Israel’, which the US briefly joined despite having been in talks with Iran.
“They should explain why they attacked us in the middle of . . . negotiations, and they have to ensure that they are not going to repeat that [during future talks],” he said in an interview in Tehran.
“And they have to compensate [Iran for] the damage that they have done.”
Abbas Araghchi told the FT ‘the road to negotiation is narrow’, as he laid out Tehran’s new conditions for resuming diplomacy with the Trump administration. https://t.co/8OHlLoU9Vn pic.twitter.com/7kmYzDqFjR
— Financial Times (@FT) July 31, 2025
Araghchi, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, said he and US envoy Steve Witkoff exchanged messages with each other during and since the war, with the Iranian side telling the US there needed to be a “win-win solution” to resolve the years-long stand-off over Iran’s nuclear program.
“The road to negotiation is narrow but it’s not impossible. I need to convince my hierarchy that if we go for negotiation, the other side is coming with real determination for a win-win deal,” he said.
Araghchi said Witkoff has tried to convince him that it is possible and has proposed resuming talks. But the veteran Iranian diplomat added, “We need real confidence-building measures from their side.”
He said this should include financial compensation, without giving details, and assurances that Iran would not be attacked during negotiations again.
“My message [to Witkoff] is not that complicated,” Araghchi said. “I said the recent aggression proved there is no military solution for Iran’s nuclear programme, but a negotiated solution can be found.”
Araghchi said a third, new enrichment plant near Isfahan — which Tehran had days before the conflict said would be activated in response to censure by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors — was also attacked.
“As far as I know, the preparations were made [for enrichment], but it was not active when it was attacked,” Araghchi said.
In a sign of the challenges facing the resumption of diplomacy, he said the war had fostered mounting resistance to negotiations within Iran’s ruling establishment.
The minister insisted the Islamic Republic was committed to a peaceful, civilian program, would not change its doctrine and would abide by a two-decade old fatwa issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei forbidding the development of nuclear weapons.
Source: Agencies
