Iran rules out talks with US, citing 'very bitter experience'

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi yesterday (9 March) dismissed the possibility of negotiating with the US after a "very bitter experience," Anadolu Ajansi reported.

In an interview with PBS News, Araghchi was asked whether Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, would be open to renewed talks or a ceasefire. He responded, "it's too soon for him to make any comment."

"But I don't think the question of talking with Americans or negotiation with Americans once again would be on the table because, you know, we have a very bitter experience of talking with Americans," he said, referring to the 12-day war last June when Israeli and US forces targeted Iranian nuclear facilities amid talks between Teheran and Washington.

Araghchi discussed the latest round of US-Iran nuclear talks, which concluded in Geneva in late February and were described as serious and constructive under Omani mediation. He said that even after three rounds of negotiation, and despite the American team acknowledging that significant progress had been made, they still decided to attack Iran.

He added that he did not think talking with Americans would be on Iran's agenda anymore.

Araghchi also confirmed that the selection of the young Khamenei represents a "continuity" of defiance to the US and Israel, while also describing it as "some sort of stability at the same time."

Regarding the widespread oil disruptions, Araghchi told PBS News, "this is not our fault. This is not our plan."

He argued that oil production and transportation had been slowed down not by Iran, but because of what he described as attacks and aggression by Israelis and Americans.

The foreign minister stressed that these actions had made the entire region insecure, causing tankers and ships to be reluctant to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

He said Iran had not closed the strait, also accusing Israel and the US of making the "whole region insecure, unstable."

"The consequences are huge for not only us, but for the whole region, and now for the international community," Araghchi added.

When asked whether Iran's strategy is to limit oil supply via attacks on regional oil facilities, he insisted that Iran's actions are purely defensive.

He said that Iran was facing what he described as an act of aggression that was absolutely illegal, and that the country's response was a legal and legitimate act of self‑defence.

He noted that Teheran had already warned everybody in the region and explained that if the US attacked Iran, since they could not reach American soil, they would have to target US bases, facilities, installations and assets in the region.

"And as a result, the war would spread into the whole region," he added, clarifying: "We are not responsible for that."

Abbas Araghchi earlier said, "Iran does not want to harm ordinary Americans who overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars."

In a post on X, he added that blame for rising gas prices, higher mortgage costs, and losses in Americans' retirement savings accounts, known as 401(k)s, "lies squarely with Israel and its dupes in Washington."