Iran has declared that dialogue over its nuclear talks with the United States is “meaningless” following Israel’s recent military strike against Iranian territory. According to Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stated, “The other side [the US] acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime [Israel] to target Iran’s territory.”
The US has denied allegations of being complicit in Israel’s attacks, urging Tehran to negotiate over its nuclear program at the United Nations Security Council. US President Donald Trump has praised the Israeli attacks on Iran, calling them “excellent” after initially cautioning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against actions that could jeopardize nuclear talks.
The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks, scheduled to take place in Oman on Sunday, may not proceed as planned due to the escalating conflict. Baghaei said, “It is still unclear what decision we will make for Sunday.” Iran maintains that its uranium enrichment program is for civilian purposes only, rejecting Israeli claims that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Trump has blamed Iran for rejecting US proposals on uranium enrichment and warned of more brutal Israeli strikes to come. In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump said, “I had warned Iran’s leaders that 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.” He added, “And they [Israelis] know how to use it.”
Hamed Mousavi, professor of political science at Tehran University, believes that many Iranians think continuing nuclear talks with the US is indeed meaningless while facing bombardment. “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,” he said.
Mousavi also noted that the mood in Iran is “pretty defiant” and doesn’t seem to support Israeli goals of a regime change in Tehran. “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. We don’t know if it’s going to happen in the future, but the mood right now is actually pretty defiant. I don’t really see that many Iranians sympathising with the Israelis”.