Iran: No One would Negotiate with Us if Not for Our Missiles

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized the significant leverage that Iran’s missile capabilities provide in diplomacy with the West, saying without this power, no country would be willing to negotiate with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear energy program.

Araghchi made the remarks in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.

The minister said diplomacy moves based on power and power-building factors such as missile capabilities.

“I have said many times, and I firmly believe, that had it not been for our missile capabilities, no one would have negotiated with us at all.”

In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries—the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany—signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], which was ratified in UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

“If they could destroy our nuclear facilities with a military strike, what reason would they have had to negotiate with us?”

“What reason,” the Iranian foreign minister asked, “would they have to sit down for over two years of negotiations, and have the US secretary of state or the foreign ministers of the P5+1 meet for 18 days to reach an agreement?”

“The reason was that they lacked the ability to eliminate our facilities militarily,” Araghchi stated.

“Our armed forces had generated this capability through missiles that had a deterrent effect.”

However, in 2018, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the JCPOA and reinstated the anti-Iran sanctions that had been lifted by the agreement, leaving the deal's future in limbo.

In retaliation, the Islamic Republic resorted to several legitimate retaliatory measures, which were in line with its entitlement under the JCPOA.

“It was the United States that withdrew from this agreement, and we, considering the US’s withdrawal, adjusted our policies and expanded our nuclear program,” Araghchi said.

“When the sanctions were reinstated, we naturally suspended our commitments based on the mechanisms outlined in the JCPOA.”

“They are not going to make it through force, pressure, and sanctions. They have experienced this; the more sanctions and pressure they impose on Iran, the more resistance Iran will show.”

Iran warns that invoking the so-called snapback by three European members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] will be reciprocated by a firm and proportionate response.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister said that whether or not new negotiations will take place depends on how prepared the other side is.

“We have never, even after the US’s withdrawal, and not even until recently under the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s government and afterward, left the negotiation table.”

“We are confident about the peaceful nature of our nuclear program, and that negotiations should result in building trust regarding Iran’s nuclear program, with the lifting of sanctions in return.”

“This has always been our position, and we negotiated based on this approach and formula in the JCPOA,” Araghchi stated, noting that “The Islamic Republic has never abandoned negotiations.”

Iran’s top diplomat further mentioned: “This is a principle, but it must be a negotiation that is honorable and fair, with which the rights of the Iranian people and our red lines are respected, and it should not be for wasting time, nor should it be negotiations for the sake of negotiations or a prolonged process.”