Masoud Pezeshkian, the Islamic Republic’s president, said on Monday, 5 October 2026, in a meeting in Tehran with Ararat Mirzoyan, Armenia’s foreign minister, that negotiating with the United States is meaningless. According to the official IRNA news agency, he claimed that Washington’s aim is not dialogue but the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
Pezeshkian said at the meeting that Tehran’s problem with the US is that “every time we come to the negotiating table, war is immediately imposed on us.” He said the US had attacked Iran three times after talks, and that negotiating with a party which, in his words, resorts every day to assassination, sanctions, pressure and threats and does not honour its commitments is meaningless. Agence France-Presse and the Times of Israel also carried the remarks, citing state media.
Pezeshkian’s claim about IAEA inspectors
In another part of his remarks, the Islamic Republic’s president claimed that every time inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have come to Iran, nuclear sites were subsequently bombed and nuclear scientists assassinated. He called the bombing of facilities under IAEA supervision a violation of international law. According to Agence France-Presse, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said that a military solution does not work and described fair and just negotiations as the only way forward.
The meeting also covered expanding trade, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries and stability in the Caucasus. Mirzoyan stressed Armenia’s peace-oriented approach in the region.
State of talks between the Islamic Republic and the US
The remarks come as, according to Agence France-Presse, talks to end the war that began in late February 2026 have stalled since a memorandum of understanding in June, and indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly also produced no result. According to the same report, the US has not carried out any attack on Iran since 1 September and has shifted its focus to economic pressure.
Earlier, Esmaeil Baghaei, the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry spokesman, had said that Tehran is not negotiating with Washington on the nuclear file and is focused on the Strait of Hormuz. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of parliament, had also announced that the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until Tehran’s seven conditions are met. Meanwhile Ali Abdollahi, chief of the armed forces general staff, threatened countries hosting US forces.
The Islamic Republic’s president called negotiations with the US meaningless at a time when talks to end the war have been stalled for months.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first.