In a post on his X account on Tuesday, Araqchi issued the text of his statement that was supposed to be presented at a conference of the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy via videoconference and gave reasons why he backed away from participation in the event.
“When I agreed to present a keynote address before Carnegie Nuclear Policy, Iran and the US had not yet set dates for the next round of talks, which begin at the expert level on Wednesday and at the principals' level on Saturday,” the Iranian foreign minister said.
“As I underscore in my prepared remarks, Iran has no intention to negotiate in public,” he underlined.
“My address also makes clear that certain Special Interest groups are laboring to manipulate the course of diplomacy by smearing negotiators and goading the US administration into making maximalist demands,” Araqchi added.
“I am accustomed to tough questions from journalists and ordinary concerned citizens alike. But turning my keynote address into an open Q&A would either turn the event into a public negotiation, which I am not willing to countenance, or be unsatisfactory for an audience probably looking for details on where the talks might go. I regret that my intended host was neither cognizant nor considerate of these sensitive dynamics,” the foreign minister explained.