Parliamentary foreign policy chair says nuclear talks aligned with national red lines

Truckers across at least 150 cities are protesting high fuel costs, stagnant freight rates, and inadequate insurance coverage.

Truck drivers currently pay a subsidized rate of 3,000 rials per liter for diesel—equivalent to about 1.5 cents per gallon—based on GPS-tracked mileage and approved cargo waybills.

However, starting 21 June, a new three-tier pricing system will increase fuel costs for usage beyond allotted quotas, with prices soaring to as high as 250,000 rials per liter at market rates.

While officials say the changes are intended to combat fuel smuggling, drivers argue that the quotas fail to reflect actual freight demands and warn that the higher costs could threaten their livelihoods.

Video footage from across the country shows major highways emptied of heavy traffic, underscoring the breadth of the disruption. With 552,307 registered drivers and only a small fraction working under corporate fleets, efforts to suppress the strike are confronting structural limits.

According to official data, just 29,648 of Iran’s 433,388 active trucks are owned by transport companies—less than 7 percent. In contrast, private ownership remains dominant, a legacy that has proven resistant to change even after a similar strike in 2018 prompted state efforts to build up firm-controlled fleets.

A dispersed workforce with a central role

This dispersed nature has made the current strike harder to contain. The government has registered over 700 new transport firms since 2017, doubling corporate truck ownership in six years. Yet this growth has not shifted the balance of control: the private sector still owns the overwhelming majority of the country’s heavy freight fleet.

Strikes in high-traffic provinces have compounded the impact. Tehran alone sees more than 3.8 million truck trips annually, roughly 10 percent of the national total. Isfahan follows closely, alongside key industrial and transit hubs such as Fars, Khuzestan, and Khorasan Razavi.

Despite reported arrests and interrogations in multiple provinces, the strike shows no signs of resolution. The Islamic Republic’s response—focused on intimidation and attempts at corporate centralization—has not brought drivers back to work.

The strike has laid bare a logistical and political reality: the road freight sector, so vital to the Iranian economy, remains fundamentally outside the state’s immediate command.

Iranian and US officials held their first round of indirect talks in Oman on April 12. That leaves just two weeks before President Donald Trump’s reported deadline expires.

Without a deal, the E3—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—are expected to trigger the dispute resolution mechanism at the next board meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog in June. That would lead to the automatic return of UN sanctions on Iran by October.

“Delay in decision-making amounts to surrendering to a scenario of war and economic collapse,” wrote attorney Massad Saliti in Iran Diplomacy, an outlet close to the Foreign Ministry.

“If the Iranian government fails to find a diplomatic solution within this short window, pressure from the United States, Europe, and Israel could threaten the country's stability to an unprecedented degree,” he added.

Saliti outlined three challenges Iran could face beyond Washington’s maximum pressure campaign if talks fail: first, the E3 may “snap back” all UN sanctions; second, Israel may strike unilaterally; and third, domestic unrest could flare up, fueled by deepening economic isolation.

None of these scenarios appear imminent. Officials in Tehran and Washington have so far maintained cautious optimism that negotiations will bear fruit. But as Trump said Wednesday, everything could change with “one phone call.”

He put it more bluntly on Friday: “Iran does not want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal. And I think that could happen in the not-too-distant future.”

Europeans’ Role

Disagreements with Europe may also complicate Iran’s separate negotiations with the US, wrote foreign policy commentator Jalal Khoshchehreh in Khabar Online.

“Iran, the United States, and Europe remain firmly entrenched behind their respective red lines, making meaningful concessions difficult,” he argued, calling the situation “alarming for all parties involved.”

Still, one hopeful sign remains, Khoshchehreh wrote---that Washington and Tehran are actively looking for ways to keep talks alive. For once, he said, US officials sound more pragmatic than their E3 counterparts.

The E3’s hard line, he argued, may be both a reaction to and a reflection of their diminished influence. But their stance would matter little if Washington and Tehran reach a deal.

“It is Tehran and Washington that must sign any potential agreement. Therefore, despite the E3’s nay-saying in tandem with Tel Aviv, if the two main parties find a ‘balance point’ between their red lines, others will have no choice but to follow,” Khoshchehreh wrote.

Saliti went further.

“Iranian officials," he wrote, "should make the most of the remaining time to … urgently and transparently reach a comprehensive and lasting agreement—one that addresses all aspects of Iran’s nuclear program, missile activities, and regional engagements.”

Iran will not back down from its right to enrich uranium, a member of parliament said Saturday, describing it as a strategic goal of the Islamic Republic and a cornerstone of the 1979 revolution’s legacy.

MP Mehdi Esmaeili told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency that attempts by the West to pressure Iran through sanctions and by questioning its nuclear program are part of a broader strategy to block the country’s access to advanced technology and keep it dependent.

“The right to nuclear technology is a national demand that does not depend on any single government or administration,” he said, emphasizing that the country’s nuclear activities are peaceful and governed by a religious decree banning nuclear weapons.

Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, said Saturday that national dignity is not always achieved through war, but sometimes through standing firm in negotiations.

“Sometimes dignity is born through war, and sometimes through holding firm in the field of negotiation,” Khomeini said at the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini.

Khomeini also praised the Iranian negotiating team in talks with the United States, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, saying they have demonstrated strong capabilities in defending Iran’s rights at the table.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Tehran will not accept any demand to halt uranium enrichment, calling such pressure an unacceptable form of foreign domination.

“Being told we cannot have enrichment because of others’ concerns is fundamentally rejecting our sovereignty,” Araghchi said during remarks at the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini. “No one in Iran will accept being denied this right—it would be submission to foreign dominance.”

He emphasized that uranium enrichment has always been a core national right and a consistent principle for Iran in past and ongoing nuclear talks. “Enrichment is a necessity for the country, and it has always been central to our position,” he said.

Addressing concerns over nuclear weapons, Araghchi reaffirmed Iran’s opposition to them. “If the issue is nuclear weapons, we reject them ourselves. We have been and remain a flag-bearer in opposing nuclear arms,” he said.

Araghchi said international law supports Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology, and that this right must not be denied under the pretext of others’ political concerns.