Iran has declared that further dialogue with the United States over its nuclear programme is now “meaningless” in the wake of Israel’s largest-ever military assault on Iranian territory — an attack Tehran believes had Washington’s backing.
“The other side [the U.S.] acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime [Israel] to target Iran’s territory.”
The U.S. has strongly denied allegations of complicity in Israel’s strikes. Addressing the United Nations Security Council, American officials urged Tehran to reconsider talks on its nuclear ambitions, calling negotiations a “wise” course of action.
Despite that call, the sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, scheduled for Sunday in Oman, now hangs in the balance. “It is still unclear what decision we will make for Sunday,” Baghaei told Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
Meanwhile, former U.S. President Donald Trump has openly praised Israel’s military campaign, calling the strikes “excellent.” Speaking on Friday, Trump said the escalating conflict might offer Iran “a second chance” to avert widespread devastation and preserve what he called “what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
He further warned Iran’s leaders via his Truth Social platform: “It would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come. And they [Israelis] know how to use it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in defense of the military campaign, vowed to press on “for as many days as it takes” to eliminate what he described as Iran’s growing nuclear threat.
Trump also accused Iran of rebuffing U.S. proposals on uranium enrichment and warned of further, harsher Israeli strikes if Tehran continues on its current path.
Inside Iran, however, defiance appears to be the dominant sentiment. Hamed Mousavi, a professor of political science at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera that there is little faith in continuing negotiations with Washington amidst ongoing bombings.
“The Israelis essentially killed the diplomatic solution, and what was surprising was the Americans were fully coordinating with the Israelis in that regard. So I think it’s unlikely the negotiations will continue,” Mousavi said.
He added that Israel’s apparent hopes for civil unrest in Tehran have yet to materialise. “The Israelis were really expecting some sort of protest or riots in the Iranian capital by the Iranian people. That hasn’t happened so far… The mood right now is actually pretty defiant. I don’t really see that many Iranians sympathising with the Israelis,” he noted.
