Iran to hold only indirect talks with US, senior MP says
A senior Iranian lawmaker said on Thursday that Tehran will not engage in direct talks with the United States, insisting that any upcoming negotiations will be conducted through intermediaries.
Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said the Islamic Republic’s stance in the talks is unchanged.
“Our positions are clear, and we will not back down under any circumstances, as we believe the Iranian people are being wronged by the current sanctions,” Kowsari told state media.
He added that, following discussions with the foreign minister, any future negotiations with Washington would be “completely indirect.”
“There must be a third-party mediator — direct negotiations will absolutely not happen,” he said.
Iran’s conservative factions are concerned upcoming talks with the United States could extend beyond the nuclear file and may involve additional demands such as disarming Tehran’s regional allies that remain deeply contentious.
Hardline publication Khorasan cautioned that Iranian negotiators must guard against what it called mission creep, particularly in the face of US efforts to shift the agenda toward direct talks.
Iran insists the Oman discussions will focus solely on its nuclear program and officials in Tehran have ruled out negotiations on regional issues or its ballistic missile capabilities.
However, US officials may press for a broader agenda. An executive order US President Donald Trump signed in February called for curbs on Iran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for allied groups across the region, such as the Houthis in Yemen.
The group, designated a terrorist organization by countries such as the US and UK, is currently engaged in a tit-for-tat battle with the US amid its blockade of shipping in the Red Sea region.
Khorsan also warned that the talks should not overtake national priorities, including the country's economic crisis, the worst since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Iran has been demanding the quick lifting of US sanctions that have devastated the economy.
The publication wrote that "diplomacy is not a solution to the country’s core problems".
On the eve of talks this week, President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking on National Nuclear Technology Day, reiterated Iran’s rejection of nuclear weapons.
“They [UN inspectors] have checked us a hundred times. Check again. We are not after the bomb,” he said. “We need nuclear science. They want us weak, but we will stand tall through knowledge.”
US President Donald Trump has warned of bombing Iran if Tehran fails to reach a new deal over its nuclear program, giving a two month deadline, without stating when that ends.
Some Israeli security officials believe this weekend’s nuclear talks between the US and Iran could undermine what they see as a rare window for military strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.
According to the report, figures within Israel’s security establishment fear the negotiations may “tie its hands” just as Iran is perceived to be increasingly vulnerable. Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council, said, “Many Israeli officials are saying that this is just the right time because we have a window where Iran is much more vulnerable.”
He pointed to recent developments, including the destruction of Iran’s Russian-supplied S-300 missile system and favorable airspace conditions over Syria, which he said might not last. Eiland added that retaliation from Hezbollah was considered unlikely at the moment.
“The talks lessen the possibility of military strikes while they are going on,” he said, suggesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visibly disappointed by the timing of the negotiations, which were announced while he sat next to Donald Trump in Washington.
The Telegraph reported that Trump did not set preconditions for the talks, such as requiring Iran to suspend its nuclear activities. This has added to concerns in Israel that Tehran might use the negotiations to stall while advancing its program.
Some Israeli experts fear the indirect format of the discussions—preferred by Iran—may allow Tehran to prolong talks without making real concessions, while continuing to rebuild its military and nuclear capabilities.
An Argentine prosecutor has requested the arrest of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
Prosecutor Sebastián Basso, who replaced the late Alberto Nisman, asked federal judge Daniel Rafecas to issue national and international arrest warrants for Khamenei, according to Argentine paper Clarin.
Basso also requested the application of trial in absentia for the remaining Iranian and Lebanese suspects named in the case.
Some of the high-level officials accused in the bombing case include former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has since died, then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian.
Others include former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaee, former Quds Force commander Ahmad Vahidi, former Iranian diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, former cultural attaché Mohsen Rabbani, and Imad Mughniyeh, the late Hezbollah operations chief.
The move follows the passage of a law promoted by President Javier Milei last year, allowing trials in absentia in cases involving grave crimes.
The bombing remains Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack. On July 18, 1994, a truck loaded with explosives detonated outside the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and injuring hundreds.
In April 2024, Argentina’s top criminal court found that the bombing was carried out by Hezbollah militants under “a political and strategic design” by Iran. Iranian officials have denied any role in the attack, and no suspects have stood trial to date.
In 2015, Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor who was later succeeded by Basso, was found dead days after accusing then-President Cristina Fernández of covering up Iran’s role in the AMIA bombing. A federal judge later ruled that Nisman had been murdered.
Last year, President Javier Milei announced the new legislation aimed at allowing the prosecution of those responsible. “Today we chose to speak out, not stay silent,” Milei said.
“We choose life, because anything else is making a game out of death ... While they may never be able to serve a sentence, they will not be able to escape the eternal condemnation of a free court proving their guilt to the entire world.”
Milei has blamed the “fanatical government of Iran” for the bombing and linked the 1994 attack to the October 7, 2023, assault by Hamas on Israel. “The terrorism of that tragic Oct. 7 is exactly the same terrorism that attacked us 30 years ago,” he said.
Speaking at a commemorative event last year organized by the World Jewish Congress and the Latin American Jewish Congress, Milei also criticized previous Argentine governments and the judiciary for “negligence, cover-up, and manipulation of evidence” in the case.
In the same week as his speech, Milei’s government declared Hamas a terrorist organization, a move which irked Tehran, and said that “in recent years, a link with the Islamic Republic of Iran has been revealed.”
A report last year by the INSS said the government of President Javier Milei is "an ardent ally of both the United States and Israel", and said the Argentine government still holds Iran accountable for the attacks in 1992 on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, in addition to the AMIA bombing.
"In total contrast to previous governments, the current [Argentinian] regime is willing to stand up to Iran and its axis of resistance. Argentina is no longer willing to sweep the problem under the rug," the report said.
Argentina is also trying to secure the extradition of Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, last year issuing a request to Interpol for his part in the AMIA bombing.
The main headline on the front page of a conservative Iranian newspaper captures the national mood ahead of the upcoming Iran-US talks in Oman: “The Saturday of Hope and Doubt.”
Across two dozen newspapers on Wednesday, the sentiment was echoed in varying language—hope for a breakthrough tempered by uncertainty over whether the two sides will meet face to face and make tangible progress.
Former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran still holds powerful options despite US pressure, after President Donald Trump threatened military action if diplomacy fails.
“Trump’s mistake is thinking Iran has no cards on the table,” Rouhani said, according to ILNA news agency. “America had the economic pressure as a card, and it has already used it. Right now, they have only one other card left.”
“Iran, contrary to US beliefs, has at least four important cards on the table,” Rouhani added. He did not say what those cards were, only that “these can be explained at the right time.”
