In a post on his X account on Tuesday, Araqchi revealed new details about the near success of past nuclear negotiations with Washington, noting that Tehran and US envoy Steve Witkoff had been on the verge of a “new and historic” agreement before political interference and misinformation derailed the process.
“Upon embarking for a 5th round of talks with Steve Witkoff on May 23, I wrote: ‘Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal’,” Araqchi wrote.
“If POTUS was to glance at the minutes of those talks—recorded by our interlocutor—he would see just how close we were to celebrating a new and historic Iran nuclear deal,” he added.
“POTUS should also recall that there was never any ‘intelligence’ that Iraq was hiding WMDs. There were only unfathomable destruction, thousands of dead American soldiers, and 7 trillion American taxpayer dollars down the drain,” the foreign minister said.
“Similarly, there was certainly no ‘intelligence’ that Iran was ‘within a month’ of developing a nuclear weapon had Israel not finally managed to deceive the US into attacking the Iranian People. With the failure of that action, Israel is now trying to make an imaginary threat out of our defense capabilities. By now, Americans have had enough of fighting Israel's Forever Wars,” Araqchi noted.
“Iran is a Great Country and Iranians are a Great Nation, the heirs of a Great and Ancient Civilization. Buildings and machines can be destroyed, but our determination will NEVER be shaken. Doubling down on that miscalculation does not resolve anything. There is NO solution but a negotiated outcome,” the Iranian foreign minister underlined.