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Tehran is willing to resume nuclear talks with Washington provided that it is handled with "respect" and "honor", Iran's top diplomat has announced.

Abbas Araghchi declared only diplomacy produced results, and shared new appeals had been made by intermediaries to resume talks with the American leadership. He claimed Iran had zero secret atomic facilities, and Tehran had not yet reached a point to allow the UN nuclear inspectorate to access attacked atomic facilities for security reasons.

Navigating a Challenging Route

The foreign minister is treading a challenging course since Iran wishes not to be perceived to be proceeding from a position of weakness, and he emphatically stated that Iran had emerged more resilient in military terms and emotionally from the joint assault on its nuclear sites in June.

He was speaking at a strategic meeting in Tehran where he reaffirmed that Iran had "a fundamental entitlement to process nuclear material domestically that it will always maintain" – the main reason of the stalemate in the earlier negotiations.

Previous Discussions Suddenly Concluded

The previous five rounds of negotiations between the US and Iran were concluded unexpectedly and hostile termination on 12 June when Israel, with Washington's assistance, targeted Iran's enrichment centers in a 12-day war that ended with the American leader declaring the facilities had been obliterated. Subsequently, Western states employed their right to reinstate international penalties, but Iran asserts they have not had a major impact.

Perfect Agreement Proposed

Iran's diplomats said they felt they had reached a "perfect agreement" to the uranium processing matter in earlier negotiations, when it was settled an local partnership with US participation could enrich uranium. Each party would have been able to assert triumph since home-based processing would have remained and the US could be certain that Iran's enrichment initiative was exclusively peaceful.

It had not been agreed in the talks that US nuclear scientists could operate inside Iran, but that was a logical implication of the partnership suggestion. Officials asserted repeatedly they had achieved a deal with the US representative the US official only for the arrangement to fall apart due to "opponents in the US".

Existing Situation

Iran's diplomats said the cooperative arrangement was now withdrawn, but it seems highly likely the offer could be revived in various formats if negotiations reopen.

The US president recently said he had been receiving messages that Iran wanted to resume discussions, but confidentially Iranian officials state they are not yet receiving consistent overtures from the United States either directly or from significant local go-betweens, such as the Qatari government, the Egyptian leadership, Oman and the Saudi kingdom. The Iran's state department has been criticized of non-responsiveness in the face of Washington's unmediated tactics, but Iran says diplomacy is not part of a show.

Political Position

In his address to the gathering, aimed to paint the US as a dominant force that misuses the notion of global regulations, Araghchi said the fortnight-long engagement revealed the clash could not be resolved by combat operations. He asserted the attacks started with a US demand for an total Iran submission and culminated with an unconditional call for a ceasefire.

Iran is convinced the initial Israeli attacks were mounted with full US knowledge and coordination, making faith hard to rebuild.

Diplomacy Stays the Ultimate Solution

Araghchi stated: "Tehran was not the one that had abandoned dialogue; it was the United States and the European states that had repeatedly attempted to enforce their will during the discussions. Negotiations can still be viable and remains the primary answer to settle disputes, but its standards, rules and principles must be adhered to."

"Provided that they talk to the citizens of Tehran with the language of respect and respect, they will get a response in the equivalent approach."

Repair and Recovery

In what is characterized by Iran's diplomats as the conflict of repair and recovery, the foreign minister stated he was confident Iran's security strengths "have significantly improved than prior to 13 or 14 June of this year. All our capabilities have been rebuilt. We learned multiple understandings from this conflict; we have discovered our internal vulnerabilities and the vulnerabilities of the opponent."

He continued: "We successfully passed this engagement. Our nuclear technology, which they aimed to destroy, stays intact. The installations and machinery, if eliminated, will be rebuilt; what is essential is the resolve of the nation of Iran and then the national cohesion that they sought to undermine, but did not succeed to destroy. The Iranian people have become more resilient, more integrated, and more backing of the administration and the nation in the face of this invasion."