Iran pushes back against Trump before nuclear talks
Iran has opposed US President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva on Tehran’s nuclear programme, switching between calling Trump’s remarks “big lies” and saying negotiations could lead to a deal through “honorable diplomacy”.
The remarks by the two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday’s talks come as Iran grapples with growing opposition following nationwide protests in January, while America is making its largest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades as part of Trump’s efforts to reach a deal.
Trump has threatened to attack Iran if negotiations fail; While the embers of the Israel-Hamas war, which has been going on for years, are still burning, Middle Eastern countries fear that this situation will turn into a new regional war.
Iran has already said that all US military bases in the Middle East will be seen as legitimate targets and that tens of thousands of American soldiers in the region will be put at risk.
Trump delivered his annual State of the Union address in the United States on Tuesday and touched on Iran and nuclear negotiations.
“They have developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our overseas bases, and they are working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States,” Trump said.
“They have been warned not to make any future attempts to rebuild their weapons programs, especially nuclear weapons, but they go ahead anyway. They start all over again.”
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.
The West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003.
Before the June attack, it was enriching uranium to 60 percent purity; this was a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
Responding to Trump, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei tried to compare him to Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
He accused Trump and his administration of waging a “disinformation and misinformation campaign” against Iran.
“Whatever their claims about Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the death toll during the January riots are just a repetition of ‘big lies,'” Baghaei wrote to X.
Trump said in his speech that at least 32,000 people had been killed in the protests; This figure is the latest of activists’ estimates of the death toll.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also said the US could either try diplomacy or face Iran’s wrath.
“If you choose the table of diplomacy where the dignity of the Iranian nation and common interests are respected, we will be at that table,” Qalibaf said, according to the semi-official Student News Network.
“But if you decide to repeat past experiences through deception, lies, faulty analysis and misinformation and launch an attack in the middle of negotiations, you will undoubtedly taste the harsh blow of the Iranian nation and the country’s defense forces.”
Iran and the United States will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday for a third round of talks mediated by Oman.
If the talks fail, there will be uncertainty about the timing, mission and objectives of a possible attack.
If the goal is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it is unclear whether limited strikes will work.
If the goal is to eliminate Iran’s leaders, this would likely lead the United States into a larger, longer military campaign.
The status of Iran’s nuclear program is another mystery.
Trump had previously said American attacks “destroyed” the program, but now eliminating whatever is left of the program appears to be on the administration’s agenda again.
IAEA inspectors were not allowed to inspect these facilities and verify what remained.
