Iran says blast in western region due to disposal of old munitions

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said speculation about a temporary arrangement had no basis, adding that details of any agreement would be decided only at the negotiating table.

“A temporary agreement has no basis,” he told a weekly news conference in Tehran. “The drafting of any negotiating text is a joint effort.”

Baghaei said Iran was currently formulating its positions and hoped to hold another round of talks within days. “We are now in the stage of drafting viewpoints and we hope to have another round within the next two or three days."

He said Iran’s positions on ending sanctions and on nuclear matters were clear, and that Tehran was fully aware of the US position.

“Iran does not benefit from protracted negotiations,” he said. “Negotiations are useful for us when they lead to a result. Reason dictates that we act as soon as possible to remove sanctions.”

Baghaei rejected accusations that Tehran was deliberately dragging out the process.

“This has no basis,” he said. “We have repeatedly said we are ready to continue negotiations for weeks without interruption in order to reach a result.”

He said any talks aimed at forcing Iran into one-sided concessions would fail.

“No negotiation whose goal is to compel one side to accept unilateral demands will succeed,” he said. “Iran is serious and determined in pursuing the diplomatic path, and we will continue this process as long as we feel it leads to a result.”

Military ready to respond

Baghaei said US threats against Iran during the talks would not alter Tehran’s approach, adding that Iran’s armed forces remain on heightened alert while diplomacy continues.

“If it leads to war, our fighters will respond,” he said. “Our forces, with eyes wide open, are ready 24 hours a day to defend Iran’s sovereignty.”

On nuclear oversight, Baghaei said Iran had no preconditions for visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency, though he distinguished between general cooperation and inspections of damaged facilities, which he said required specific procedures.

"The issue of inspecting damaged facilities is different because there is no established method for such inspections.”

He said Iran had previously implemented the Additional Protocol to its safeguards agreement on a voluntary basis during the 2015 nuclear deal and could consider similar steps again in exchange for sanctions relief.

“Such a voluntary decision depends on reciprocal steps in the area of sanctions relief.”

Baghaei also addressed US sanctions, saying “In recent years they (Americans) have explicitly said that the goal is to pressure Iranian citizens so that they feel the pressure and protest against the government,” he said.

He added decisions on the nuclear file were taken within Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, with all relevant institutions participating, dismissing reports about any rift between the Foreign Ministry and the council over the conduct of negotiations, and saying the ministry acts in line with decisions adopted by the council.

Iran’s efforts to build closer military ties with China and Russia are yielding limited support as it faces mounting pressure from the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said Beijing and Moscow have strengthened economic and diplomatic ties with Tehran but have shown little willingness to provide direct military assistance if President Donald Trump orders strikes on Iran.

It noted that Russia and Iran held small-scale naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, and that a joint exercise with China is planned, but said the show of force is modest compared with the US military buildup in the region.

Analysts cited by the Journal said both China and Russia are unlikely to risk a confrontation with Washington over Iran, describing their ties with Tehran as pragmatic and transactional rather than a commitment to go to war on its behalf.

The United States is in position for a “highly kinetic” military campaign against Iran after a major buildup of forces in the Middle East, former senior Pentagon official Dana Stroul told Fox News Digital.

“The US military is ready for a sustained, highly kinetic campaign should President Trump order it, and also prepared to defend allies and partners in the Middle East from Iran’s missiles,” said Stroul, now research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

She said the deployment of two aircraft carriers, including the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln, along with additional destroyers, fighter aircraft, refueling planes and air defenses, had expanded US offensive and defensive capabilities compared with strikes carried out in June 2025.

“It is not a question of military readiness, but a political decision,” she said, adding that any action would depend on orders from President Donald Trump.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for a diplomatic solution on Iran on Monday ahead of expected talks between Tehran and Washington, as US President Donald Trump has threatened possible strikes.

“We don't need another war in this region. We already have a lot,” Kallas said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

She said Iran was at a weak point and that the moment should be used to seek a diplomatic outcome.

Oil prices may surge as the United States and Iran appear to be heading toward war, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing energy consultant Fereidun Fesharaki.

“I don’t think the US has a choice but to go to war,” Fesharaki, chairman emeritus of FGE NexantECA, told Bloomberg TV. “It is very hard for me to see a scenario that they would just avoid this, and turn the ships around and go home.”

He said prices of $90 to $100 a barrel were “within reach,” depending on the severity of any disruption, pointing to risks to crude flows from the region and the possibility Iran could seek to block the Strait of Hormuz.