• Says he’s not offering Tehran anything, nor speaking to them
• Iran says talks can’t resume unless US rules out further strikes
• Decries conduct of IAEA chief

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was not offering Iran anything nor talking to it “since we totally obliterated” the country’s nuclear facilities.

“I am not offering Iran ANYTHING, unlike Obama,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Nor am I even talking to them since we totally OBLITERATED their Nuclear Facilities.”

The statement comes as Iran’s deputy foreign minister told the BBC that talks between Washington and Tehran cannot resume unless the US rules out further strikes on Iran.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the British broadcaster that the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table, a week after it struck three Iranian nuclear facilities. “We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality,” said Takht-Ravanchi.

“Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?” The US needs to be “quite clear on this very important question”, he said.

The two countries were in talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme when Israel hit Iranian nuclear sites and military infrastructure this month, with the US joining by bombing three nuclear sites — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — on June 21.

The deputy minister revealed to the BBC that the US had signalled it did “not want to engage in regime change” by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Takht-Ravanchi also said Iran should still be allowed to enrich uranium. “The level of that can be discussed, the capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not have enrichment, you should have zero enrichment, and if you do not agree, we will bomb you, that is the law of the jungle,” he said.

‘Destructive’ behaviour

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Tehran halted cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog due to what he called the agency chief’s “destructive” behaviour towards the Islamic republic, his office said on Monday.

“The action taken by parliament members… is a natural response to the unjustified, unconstructive, and destructive conduct of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Pezeshkian told Macron in a phone call late Sunday, according to a presidency statement.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the Iranian parliament’s decision to halt cooperation with the IAEA reflected the “concern and anger of the Iranian public opinion”.

He further criticised the United States and European powers for maintaining what he described as a “political approach” toward Iran’s nuclear programme during his weekly press conference.

Baqaei also questioned how the safety of IAEA inspectors could be ensured while the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities — targeted by Israel and the United States during the 12-day war — remains unknown.

“One aspect of this issue is how to ensure the safety and security of the agency’s inspectors, in a situation where there is still no accurate assessment of the severity of the damage,” he said.

On Wednesday, Iranian lawmakers voted in favour of a bill to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, citing Israel’s June 13 attack and later strikes by the US on nuclear facilities.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2025