Iran shouldn't expect Russia's help in case of Israeli attack, former FM says

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace canceled a planned virtual conversation with Iran’s foreign minister at its nuclear policy conference after his team requested changes limiting questions from the moderator and audience, the organization said on Saturday.

“The Iranian foreign minister’s team subsequently requested changes to the previously agreed format. These changes would have severely curtailed the ability of the moderator and the audience to question the foreign minister. As a result, Carnegie decided not to proceed with the session,” said Katelynn Vogt, Vice President for Communications at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in a statement sent to Iran International.

The event was organized by the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Program, one of the Endowment’s leading initiatives focused on arms control, deterrence, and nuclear diplomacy.

The dispute comes as Araghchi is due to lead the third round of talks with Washington after US President Donald Trump warned Iran to come to a nuclear deal of face military attack.

"This cancellation follows the organizer’s decision to alter the format of the keynote into a debate," Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said.

The foreign minister has seldom given interviews or other public discussions with Western media outlets or organizations about Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Shortly after the cancelation, Araghchi released the text of a speech he had prepared for the event.

Tehran denies seeking a bomb but Western countries and Israel doubt their intentions.

Araghchi’s invitation to the event had sparked backlash on social media from several US politicians as well as Iranian activists and diaspora members.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and current head of advocacy group United Against a Nuclear Iran criticized the invitation, saying that American think tanks should not “normalize officials from a regime which has plotted to kill President Trump and other Americans.”

Iranian-British activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi said that the unexplained death in custody of a German-Iranian activist on death row last year represented state repression that should disqualify officials' from public discussions in the West.

"Jamshid Sharmahd, a US resident, was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by the Islamic Republic—the latest example of the regime Araghchi represents. When US academic and policy institutions platform such officials while ignoring their crimes, they discredit themselves," she said in a post on X.

However, a source at Carnegie said Monday the cancellation was not due to pressure from any foreign government or lobbying group.

"Iran requested a last-minute change to the Q&A session and sought to cancel the Q&A session, but Carnegie did not accept the change," the source said.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace canceled a planned virtual conversation with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at its nuclear policy conference after his team requested changes limiting questions from the moderator and audience, the organization said on Saturday.

The dispute comes as Araghchi is due to lead the third round of talks with Washington after US President Donald Trump warned Iran to come to a nuclear deal of face military attack.

"This cancellation follows the organizer’s decision to alter the format of the keynote into a debate," Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said.

The foreign minister has seldom given interviews or other public discussions with Western media outlets or organizations about Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Tehran denies seeking a bomb but Western countries and Israel doubt their intentions.

Araghchi’s invitation to the event had sparked backlash on social media from several US politicians as well as Iranian activists and diaspora members.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and current head of advocacy group United Against a Nuclear Iran criticized the invitation, saying that American think tanks should not “normalize officials from a regime which has plotted to kill President Trump and other Americans.”

Iranian-British activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi said that the unexplained death in custody of a German-Iranian activist on death row last year represented state repression that should disqualify officials' from public discussions in the West.

"Jamshid Sharmahd, a US resident, was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by the Islamic Republic—the latest example of the regime Araghchi represents. When US academic and policy institutions platform such officials while ignoring their crimes, they discredit themselves," she said in a post on X.

However, a source at Carnegie said Monday the cancellation was not due to pressure from any foreign government or lobbying group.

"Iran requested a last-minute change to the Q&A session and sought to cancel the Q&A session, but Carnegie did not accept the change," the source said.

A majority of Iranians want direct negotiations with the United States regarding the nuclear program, believing it would expedite progress and facilitate clearer communication, according to reformist politician Morteza Alviri.

Alviri expressed optimism about the ongoing indirect talks between Iran and the US, saying the reduced intervals between rounds as a sign of both sides' desire to resolve for an agreement. 

Alviri suggested that US President Donald Trump's focus on the nuclear issue could motivate a faster resolution. However, he cautioned Iranian diplomats against neglecting Europe, warning of the potential for the so-called snapback mechanism in mid-summer.

Elected in 2013, the Argentine-born pontiff entered the Vatican just as Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate within Iran’s ruling establishment, rose to power. Their political overlap raised hopes of better ties.

Rouhani visited the Vatican in January 2016, meeting Pope Francis behind closed doors. According to Vatican readouts, the Pope welcomed Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and urged its leaders to help defeat terrorism and extremism in the region.

Despite maintaining diplomatic relations, Francis never visited Iran, even as he made rare and symbolic trips to nearby Muslim-majority states. In 2021, he traveled to Iraq, where he held an unprecedented meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, which Iran’s state broadcaster ignored entirely.

Tensions between the progress ideals of the Vatican under Francis and Tehran’s actions sharpened after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in morality police custody in 2022 sparked the nationwide "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests.

Francis condemned the use of the death penalty on demonstrators during his annual address to the Vatican diplomatic corps in January 2022.

"The death penalty cannot be employed for a purported state justice, since it does not constitute a deterrent nor render justice to victims but only fuels the thirst for vengeance." ​

Weeks earlier, during his Christmas Day address, he called for reconciliation in Iran, grouping it with other regions experiencing conflict. He prayed for a lasting truce in Yemen and for reconciliation in Myanmar and Iran, highlighting the need for peace and dialogue there.

Francis also responded to escalating regional tensions. After the US killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and Iran’s retaliatory strikes in Iraq, he called for restraint and dialogue, warning against war’s destructive toll.

“I call on all sides to keep the flame of dialogue and self-restraint alight and ward off the shadow of hostility,” he said in his annual State of the World address to diplomats in January 2020.

Even as he criticized Iran’s human rights record, Francis remained a point of contact for Iranian leaders. In November 2023, late President Ebrahim Raisi spoke with the Pope by phone, expressing appreciation for his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Francis repeated that plea during his final Easter address, delivered weeks before his death.

Israeli President Herzog and newly arrived US Ambassador Mike Huckabee jointly warned of Iran's nuclear threat and regional aggression, citing Tehran's aim to destroy both nations.

“History has taught us that when a radical regime declares, ‘Death to Israel and Death to America!’ we must take these threats seriously — and counter them with all of our determination, resolve, and might," Herzog said at the ceremony to receive the US envoy's credentials.

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