Iran’s 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% remain buried beneath debris from the recent US strike on nuclear facilities, and Iran has no plan to recover them until conditions permit, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera published on Sunday.
“Almost all of the material lies under the rubble, and we have no plan to retrieve it until the circumstances permit,” Araghchi said. “We do not know how much of it remains intact or has been destroyed, and we will not know until we can remove it.”
Israel and the United States attacked Iranian nuclear sites in a 12-day June war, setting back the nuclear program but leaving its fate unresolved.
Tehran has since declined to allow IAEA inspectors to resume their inspections.
The strikes, Araghchi said, caused extensive structural damage but failed to destroy Iran’s nuclear know-how.
“Our facilities were hit hard, but technology cannot be bombed,” he added. “More importantly, our determination has not been lost; it has even grown stronger after the war.”
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has accused Western countries of instrumentalizing a technical dispute with the IAEA to deploy onerous sanctions.
No direct talks with Washington
Responding to questions about prospects for negotiations with the United States, Araghchi said Tehran sees no need for direct talks.
“Many countries, for historical and political reasons, avoid direct negotiations,” he said. “We once held direct talks with the Americans and achieved no result. If they are serious, results can be reached even through indirect talks.”
Iran’s preference for indirect channels was based on experience and distrust, he added. “We have no confidence and no interest in direct negotiations,” he said. “Indirect talks can lead to the same outcome.”
‘Equal footing’ for future diplomacy
Discussions, according to Araghchi, could resume whenever Washington was ready to negotiate “from an equal footing and on the basis of mutual interests.” He added: “They seem in no hurry, and we are in no hurry either.”
Diplomacy, he maintained, remains Iran’s guiding principle. “War was imposed on us while we were negotiating,” he said. “For us, diplomacy is essential. We are ready to engage with the world and the West, but it is they who have betrayed diplomacy.”
Iran’s postwar policy, the minister said, would focus on strengthening regional cooperation. “Our priority is our neighbors… We began a policy of good neighborliness with determination and will expand it after the war. We negotiate with the West, but we do not take dictation.”
Limits of nuclear negotiation
Addressing renewed mediation efforts, Araghchi said Tehran remains open to restoring the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal. “The same formula can still apply -- confidence-building on our nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.”
But he drew a firm line on Iran’s defense programs. “There is no reason to negotiate our own security with anyone,” he said.
“A fair nuclear agreement is possible, but the Americans have made unreasonable and excessive demands. When they are ready to negotiate fairly and as equals, we will consider resuming talks.”
Earlier this year, the United States held five rounds of negotiations with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program under a 60-day deadline set by President Donald Trump.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day, on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow.
Araghchi’s remarks come as the International Atomic Energy Agency continues seeking access to Iranian sites to verify the status of enriched uranium stocks following the attacks.
Tehran had received messages concerning the talks, Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokeswoman for President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, said on Sunday, but declined to identify the sender or disclosing any further details.
“Details about the nature and content of the messages will be provided at the appropriate time,” she told reporters.
Her remarks came after the Iraqi news outlet Baghdad Al-Youm, citing diplomatic sources in Tehran, reported on Friday that a message transmitted to Muscat expressed Washington’s willingness to resume nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic.
The US president Donald Trump had expressed his determination to reach a new agreement with Iran, the report said.
However, Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, quoted an informed source on Saturday denying the report and saying that “no message has been sent by the United States through Oman.”
Oman and Qatar urge return to diplomacy
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, speaking on Saturday at Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain, said his country hoped to return to negotiations between Iran and the United States. Oman has hosted five rounds of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington this year.
The planned sixth round in June, Al-Busaidi said, was halted after Israel’s attacks on Iran.
“Three days before the sixth round of talks was set to take place in June, Israel unleashed its bombs and missiles in an illegal and deadly act of sabotage,” he said.
The negotiations aimed at a new accord that would limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Western governments, including the United States, have accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists its program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Qatari prime minister and foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on October 29 that Doha was working to bring both sides back to a new agreement.
“We are trying to engage with the United States and with the Iranians to make sure that the talks come back on track between the two countries, because I believe once we have the talks started, we can achieve an agreement,” Al Thani said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York.
“We can achieve a deal that will be better for everyone. For us in the region, for Iran, and for the United States,” Al Thani said. “Iran is my neighbor... for me, the stability of Iran is key. It’s not a luxury... it’s very important.”
Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which had imposed strict limits on uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. In September, the United Nations reimposed its arms embargo and other sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Speaking during a visit to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Pezeshkian said Tehran’s nuclear drive is intended to “meet the essential needs of the people and enhance national welfare.”
He said that while the destructive potential of nuclear technology is well known, “only a fraction of its applications relate to weapons,” and the rest serves medicine, agriculture, and industry.
The president’s remarks come amid heightened tensions with the West over Iran’s nuclear activity following the reimposition of UN sanctions and renewed scrutiny by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Pezeshkian said Iran’s nuclear scientists are working on the production of radiopharmaceuticals and medical isotopes, calling their efforts “a form of scientific jihad and sincere service to the nation.”
He rejected Western accusations that Iran seeks to develop nuclear arms, saying that “building a nuclear weapon is not on our agenda and they know this well.”
Instead, he accused global powers of using false claims to block Iran’s technological independence and maintain control over high-tech industries and markets.
Pezeshkian also criticized what he called the waste of national resources through excessive fossil fuel consumption and urged scientists to focus on clean technologies and renewable energy.
“We burn millions of barrels of oil and gas daily and ignore the potential of science to create added value,” he said, adding that this neglect fuels environmental damage and economic dependency.
The president vowed full government support for advancing the country’s peaceful nuclear program, saying that Iran must strengthen its position in the global market for radiopharmaceuticals and other nuclear-related technologies.
“With careful planning and the efforts of our scientists, we can expand our share of the international market,” he said.
Iran plans eight new reactors
Iran plans to build eight new nuclear power plants in cooperation with Russia as part of a long-term strategy to expand its nuclear energy capacity, Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said on Sunday.
Eslami said the new facilities would be located along the country’s northern and southern coasts.
He told reporters that the projects are part of a roadmap to generate 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2041.
Eslami said four of the planned reactors would be built in Bushehr -- home to Iran’s existing nuclear plant -- and four elsewhere, with site details to be announced later.
He added that Iran is also pursuing domestic projects, including a power plant in Darkhoveyn and a desalination project in Bushehr, aimed at addressing electricity and water shortages.
Abbas Goudarzi, spokesman for the parliament presidium, accused Rouhani of “disturbing public opinion and weakening national unity” and called on the judiciary to investigate what he described as Zarif’s “anti-Russia remarks.”
His comments, published on Saturday by Tasnim News Agency, came amid growing debate over Iran’s strategic partnership with Russia and China.
Rouhani has recently renewed calls for dialogue with the West and the United States, while Zarif said on October 17 that Moscow’s foreign policy toward Tehran rests on two red lines: “Iran must not normalize relations with the world and must not enter direct confrontation with it.”
“The judiciary must respond decisively,” Goudarzi said. “National security cannot be left in the hands of those who did nothing when in power and now seem upset to see a new global order forming.”
“Today Russia and China stand by the Islamic Republic and by truth itself, taking good positions against America’s unilateralism and condemning the wrongful actions of European countries. Unfortunately, some from within are sending negative signals."
"When they were in positions of responsibility, they leaned entirely toward the West, but now that we are witnessing a positive approach in foreign policy, the same people are pouring water into the enemy’s mill, creating obstacles and placing sticks in the wheels,” he added.
Lawmakers and former officials join criticism
Vahid Ahmadi, a member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, also rejected criticism of Iran’s alignment with Russia and China.
“Those who are sensitive about our friendship with the East are either hostile, uninformed, or influenced by certain propaganda,” he said on Saturday in remarks quoted by Fararu website.
“We have long-term 20- and 25-year agreements with Russia and China as partners, and we are acting based on the national interests of our country,” Ahmadi added.
Former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who served under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also joined the criticism of Rouhani.
“During his government’s nuclear negotiations with the United States, Rouhani adopted the worst possible approach. By referring to America as ‘the village elder,’ he effectively disarmed himself and handed the upper hand to the other side,” he said.
Earlier, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also accused Rouhani and Zarif of damaging Tehran-Moscow relations, which he described as progressing well.
Despite the 20-year strategic cooperation agreement signed earlier this year between Tehran and Moscow, the exchange has laid bare widening divisions within Iran’s political establishment over the country’s reliance on Russia, as critics warn that Moscow sees Iran largely as leverage in its standoff with the West.
He pointed out that the fatwa by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei against nuclear weapons has strong Shia jurisprudential foundations.
Larijani, a former senior judiciary official who also served as a top adviser to the Supreme Leader, added that he supports the expansion of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, framing them as a deterrent and emphasizing the country’s decision not to weaponize.
He also voiced sharp criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal, saying the so-called “diplomacy doctrine” of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) had led Iran to “distress and reversed courage.”
Larijani, speaking at a conference examining the thoughts of Ali Khamenei, said that the JCPOA doctrine -- based on trading rights for concessions -- was akin to surrendering part of Iran’s rights in order to preserve others, and he invoked Iran’s war-era ethos of resisting aggressors.
Larijani’s comments reflect a nuanced position often heard from Tehran: while Iran signals that it remains technically close to nuclear weapon capability, it continues to assert that its policy remains peaceful and that the decision not to build such weapons stands.
The remarks come amid international scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear program, where questions remain over enrichment levels and stockpiles, and where the authenticity and legal force of Khamenei’s so-called fatwa have been contested by analysts.
International experts say the Iranian stance complicates diplomatic efforts, as Tehran’s acknowledgement of capability but insistence on conditional restraint leaves room for ambiguity.
Critics argue this could be designed to serve both as deterrence and diplomatic leverage.
