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Iran Says Would Consider Talks with US about Concerns over Militarization of Nuclear Program

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 9, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on March 6, 2025 in Washington, DC, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attending a meeting with Iranian goverment officials in Tehran on March 8, 2025. (Photo by ALEX WONG / various sources / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 9, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on March 6, 2025 in Washington, DC, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attending a meeting with Iranian goverment officials in Tehran on March 8, 2025. (Photo by ALEX WONG / various sources / AFP)
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Iran Says Would Consider Talks with US about Concerns over Militarization of Nuclear Program

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 9, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on March 6, 2025 in Washington, DC, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attending a meeting with Iranian goverment officials in Tehran on March 8, 2025. (Photo by ALEX WONG / various sources / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 9, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on March 6, 2025 in Washington, DC, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attending a meeting with Iranian goverment officials in Tehran on March 8, 2025. (Photo by ALEX WONG / various sources / AFP)

Iran would consider negotiations with the US if the aim of the talks was to address concerns regarding any potential militarization of its nuclear program, Iran's UN mission said on Sunday in a post on X.

The comment came a day after the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran will not negotiate under US "bullying".

According to Reuters, in the post on X, the mission said: "If the objective of negotiations is to address concerns vis-à-vis any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program, such discussions may be subject to consideration."

"However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program ... such negotiations will never take place," the post added.
Khamenei was quoted by state media as saying on Saturday: "They are bringing up new demands that certainly will not be accepted by Iran, like our defense capabilities, missile range and international influence."

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network, broadcast on Friday, that he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and had sent a letter to its leadership suggesting talks with the Islamic Republic, which the West fears is rapidly nearing the capability to make atomic weapons.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

While expressing openness to a deal with Tehran, Trump has reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign that was applied during his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero.

During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark deal between Iran and major powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has said that time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions on Iran's activities, as Tehran continues to accelerate its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade.
Tehran says its nuclear work is solely for peaceful purposes.

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Armenian Prime Minister Meets Erdogan in Rare Visit to Türkiye Aimed at Mending Ties

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
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Armenian Prime Minister Meets Erdogan in Rare Visit to Türkiye Aimed at Mending Ties

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C-R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (C-L) posing before their meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, 20 June 2025. (EPA/ Turkish Presidential Press Office)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday as part of the two countries' efforts to normalize ties that were strained over historic disputes and Türkiye’s alliance with Azerbaijan.

The talks between the two countries, which have no formal diplomatic ties, were expected to center on the possible reopening of their joint border as well as the war between Israel and Iran.

Türkiye, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 2020, Türkiye strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.

Türkiye and Armenia also have a more than century-old dispute over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Türkiye.

Historians widely view the event as genocide. Türkiye vehemently rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but insisting that the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest.

The rare visit by an Armenian leader comes after Ankara and Yerevan agreed in 2021 to launch efforts toward normalizing ties and appointed special representatives to lead talks.

Pashinyan previously visited Türkiye in 2023 when he attended a presidential inauguration ceremony following an election victory by Erdogan. The two have also held talks on the sideline of a meeting in Prague in 2022.

It is Ankara and Yerevan’s second attempt at reconciliation. Türkiye and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.