Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday acknowledged that US and Israeli strikes had done "serious harm" to its nuclear sites in the most wide-ranging remarks since the end of a 12-day war by Tehran's top diplomat.
"This damage has not been minor—serious harm has been done to our facilities. They are currently conducting a thorough assessment of the damage," he said in an interview with the state broadcaster, referring to Iran's Atomic Energy Agency.
Araghchi said Tehran would not allow the UN nuclear watchdog chief Raphael Grossi into the country as the parliament considers exiting the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which mandates inspections.
"For now, we do not intend to allow Mr. Grossi into Tehran. As for the inspectors, it still needs to be reviewed—if their presence aligns with parliamentary law, we’ll consider it. But clearly, if they want to inspect the destroyed facilities, it means they’re trying to assess the extent of the damage."
A US domestic political row has escalated over how effective US strikes on the nuclear facilities had been, with US President Donald Trump saying they "obliterated" their targets by senior Democrats still wary.
'Come, let's negotiate'
Aragchi detailed alleged diplomatic communications during the conflict in which he accused the United States and Israel of starting a conflict despite US-Iran nuclear talks.
"Europeans would call and say, 'Stop the war and return to diplomacy,' and I responded, 'What do you mean? We were in the middle of diplomacy!' They were the ones who started the war," Araghchi said.
The foreign minister, who was the chief interlocutor with the United States in two-month talks which ended with Israel's surprise attack earlier this month, warned against the triggering of United Nations "snapback" sanctions.
"Iran’s nuclear issue will become far more complex and difficult if the snapback mechanism is triggered—just as they made things more complicated by launching a war," Araghchi added, signaling a hard line on reviving talks or making a nuclear deal.
"They thought they could destroy our nuclear facilities, leave us empty-handed at the negotiating table, and then say, 'Come, let’s negotiate.' That didn’t happen.'"
