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Iran questions US ‘trust' in nuclear talks as negotiations remain stalled amid Islamic Republic's conflict with Israel
Iran is questioning its 'trust' in the US to engage in nuclear talks as Tehran has refused to restart negotiations until Israel halts its attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi accused the Trump administration of using nuclear negotiations as a cover for Israel's airstrikes on the country's nuclear program, claiming the attacks came just two days before a new round of talks between US and Iranian officials were set to start.
'So they had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up,' Araqchi said Friday in an interview with NBC News.
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4 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi accused the Trump administration of using nuclear negotiations as a cover for Israel's airstrikes on the country's nuclear program.
NBC News
'We don't know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal of diplomacy.'
He vowed that negotiations would cease as long as Israel's 'aggression continues,' flatly rejecting Trump's demands to scrap its uranium enrichment and balking at his 'two week' deadline to reach a deal.
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4 Satellite image of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant in Iran.
© 2025 PLANET LABS PBC/AFP via Getty Images
'I told him several times zero enrichment is impossible,' Araqui said of his meetings with special envoy Steve Witkoff, who he accused of contributing to a 'lack of confidence' between the two nations.
He later called Tehran's nuclear program a scientific 'achievement' and a source of 'pride and dignity,' insisting that even if it were bombed and destroyed, Iran would rebuild it using the knowledge and technology it has amassed over the years.
But Araqchi said US officials could resolve the issue with a single phone call to Tel Aviv to halt the attacks.
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4 Iranian foreign minister expressing distrust of the U.S. following Israeli attacks.
NBC News
'They can stop this process very quickly, and then we will consider diplomacy again,' he told reporter Andrea Mitchell during the sit-down.
'They have asked us to negotiate, but we negotiate only when it is negotiation and not dictation.'
Israel began its attack on Iran last Friday by taking out its top nuclear scientists and military officials responsible for the country's nuclear enrichment program.
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4 President Trump gave Iran a two-week deadline to restart negotiations to reach a deal.
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President Trump earlier this week spent days behind closed doors vacillating between negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its uranium enrichment and potentially joining Israel in bombing Tehran's nuclear facilities.
The president said Thursday he'd make a final decision within the 'next two weeks' as he still holds out hope for renewed negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.
Araqchi warned that if the US joins Israel in launching an attack on Iran, the country will strike back.
'When there is a war, both sides attack each other. That's quite understandable. And self-defense is a legitimate right of every country,' he said.
'If the US joins Israel in these attacks, we will do the same.'
