Tehran open to nuclear talks but not on missiles or Shi'ite groups

Tehran conveyed the response via Oman on Wednesday, Iran’s official IRNA news website quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying.

"Our policy remains not to engage in direct negotiations under maximum pressure and military threats. However, indirect negotiations as existed in the past can continue," Araghchi said.

"Indirect negotiations had taken place both under the administration of Mr. Rouhani and Martyr Raisi," he said referring to Iran's previous two presidents.

The remarks largely repeat his previous public statements on engagement with Washington.

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon but the UN's nuclear watchdog says it has enriched more uranium than any state lacking a bomb. While Washington assesses Tehran is not actively building one, it doubts Iranian intentions.

Trump last month reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran from his first term, with the stated aim of driving its oil sales to zero.

Signing the initiative, Trump said: "It's very simple. I'm not putting restrictions. They cannot have one thing. They cannot have a nuclear weapon."

A senior Emirati official personally conveyed the letter to Tehran urging a nuclear deal which Khamenei - without specifically referencing the missive - rejected, calling the overture a deception while Washington's sanction policy hurts Iran.

Trump withdrew from a 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran in his first term after bashing it as too lenient. Khamenei said talks were pointless if a new deal could easily be broken.

The previous deal, inked under President Barack Obama, was mediated in part by Oman.

Trump's letter gave Iran a two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal, Axios has reported citing one US official and two sources briefed on the letter.

"You've got a lot of stuff going on with Iran, and we sent a letter to Iran," Trump said this week. "You're going to have to be speaking to us one way or the other pretty soon, because we can't let this happen."

Trump has demanded Tehran come to a deal or face a military intervention and warned any attack by Yemen's Houthis would be treated as emanating from Iran.

The plot, which had not previously been reported, did not appear to involve the Iranian state in any way despite its fraught relationship with US-allied countries.

An Iranian man whom SBS News identified as Kamran - a pseudonym used for privacy reasons - attacked the Australian embassy in Tehran with a Molotov cocktail and later followed the ambassador Ian Biggs with the intent to kill him.

Kamran was arrested before carrying out the attack and was later jailed for 17 months although he was released on parole in 2020, the report said.

The leaked documents, provided to SBS by the Iranian hacktivist group Edaalate Ali, come from a cache of over three million files detailing cases tried in Tehran's Revolutionary Court between 2008 and 2023.

Among these included documents relating to the plot against Biggs, revealing that Kamran’s actions began with setting off a firecracker, followed by throwing two Molotov cocktails and then attempting to purchase a handgun with the intent to murder the ambassador, the report added.

According to the documents cited by SBS, Kamran was charged with “collusion and conspiracy with the intent to act against national security through a plot to commit an act of terror and murder Australia's Ambassador.” While Kamran hired two accomplices, the report said they were later released due to insufficient evidence.

Assailant’s sentence and release

Despite the severity of the charges, Kamran’s sentence was reduced from six years to under four years after he requested a pardon, the report said. However, the decision to reduce the sentence was later withdrawn. Kamran was ultimately paroled after serving just under 18 months in 2020, the report added.

While Kamran’s motivations are not fully clear, the report said he claimed personal grievances related to his time in Australia, including allegations of sexual harassment and financial struggles.

Biggs served as Australia's ambassador to Iran from May 2016 until 2019. During this period, the relationship between Australia and Iran was affected by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

According to the report, Biggs publicly backed the nuclear deal, and Australia’s position on the deal was aligned with much of the international community at the time.

In May 2023, Biggs assumed the role of Australia's Ambassador to Austria. He also took on responsibilities as Australia's Resident Representative and Governor on the IAEA Board of Governors, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, and to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Preparatory Commission.

The Australian government, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Federal Police, declined to comment on the incident, the report said.

"We need to take out the Houthis. We need to stop the Houthis from these attacks. It's not good enough to just play defense. We actually have to take out their ability to make these attacks," the Republican senator from North Dakota said.

"They are a proxy for Iran. They are funded by Iran. They are armed by Iran," he added. "It's not only important we take out the Houthis so that we can have safe, safe shipping in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden. It's also important to send very clear message to Iran that we know their proxies are armed and funded by Iran and doing Iran's bidding."

President Donald Trump on Mar. 15 ordered large-scale military strikes against dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen, warning Iran not to keep supporting the group.

'Offshoot of Iran'

A Shi'ite religious militia, the Houthis seized much of the war-torn country beginning in 2014 and have been provided advanced drone and missile technology by Iran.

Following an attack by Iran-backed Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel's incursion into Gaza, the Houthis began attacking commercial and military vessels in the waterways astride Yemen in what they called solidarity with Palestine.

Trump has demanded Tehran come to a deal over its nuclear program or face a military intervention and warned any attack by the Houthis would be treated as emanating from Iran.

Following this week's attacks on the Houthis, Trump asserted once more that the Yemen group was Tehran's offshoot.

"They make their own missiles. They get their missiles also from Iran. It's an offshoot of Iran, another offshoot," he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

"You've got a lot of stuff going on with Iran, and we sent a letter to Iran. You're going to have to be speaking to us one way or the other pretty soon, because we can't let this happen," he added.

“Armed groups supported by Tehran have no choice but to accept change,” said Sheikh Abdullah al-Jaghifi, Secretary-General of the Ahrar al-Furat Movement.

Al-Jaghifi said Syria was a cautionary tale of how geopolitical transformations can unravel entrenched alliances. Tehran lost its oldest Arab ally there, the Assad dynasty, to hardline Islamist-led rebels close to Turkey.

Speaking to Iran International, al-Jaghifi predicted 2025 would bring major changes across Iraq and the broader region, with Iran's influence continuing to wane.

The remarks come after discussions over integrating the militias into the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – a move presented as a means to depoliticize Iraq’s paramilitary landscape. Yet critics question the sincerity and effectiveness of the initiative.

Mithal al-Alusi, founder of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation, dismissed the proposed merger as a semantic maneuver.

“Iran is using wordplay to maintain its grip on Iraq and is turning the country into a base for extremist operations,” he told Iran International. He warned that Iran-backed networks are involved in transferring funds, passports and weaponry under the guise of Iraqi state structures.

Al-Alusi argued that Hezbollah and Hamas are being financed with dollars funneled through Iraqi channels, calling the practice “a serious crime against Iraq and the region – against people killed whether Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Yemenis alike.”

The leadership in Baghdad is pressuring Tehran-aligned armed groups not to attack Israeli targets to avoid a punishing military response, The New Arab news outlet reported on Wednesday.

The move follows a reported effort by a senior Iranian military commander to urge Tehran's armed allies in Iraq and Yemen to stand down attacks on their Mideast nemesis, potentially signaling an Iranian desire for detente in the region.

Iran faces an ultimatum by US President Donald Trump to ink a new nuclear deal or face attack after its home front and armed allies in the region have been dealt historic military blows from Israel in over a year of war.

The treaty was signed in January, during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Moscow, and aims to institutionalize long-term cooperation between the two nations.

Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said that the agreement consists of 47 articles covering a broad spectrum of collaboration, including "advanced technologies, cybersecurity, peaceful nuclear energy, military-defense cooperation, counterterrorism, and anti-money laundering measures".

He said the latest treaty now moves beyond the scope of a previous 20-year strategic pact signed in 2001 which was automatically extended for five years in 2021.

The leaders of both countries agreed that the existing agreement was outdated and insufficient to cover the current breadth of their evolving relationship, Jalali said.

While the specifics have not been publicly disclosed by either Tehran or Moscow, mirroring the secrecy surrounding Iran's 25-year agreement with China, Russia has indicated that the 2001 pact involved collaboration in industry and technology, security projects, energy, and the construction of nuclear power plants.

Russian state-run TASS news agency reported that the pact includes a security clause saying that "in the event of an attack on one party, the other party will under no circumstances support the aggressor."

Moscow and Tehran have leveled up their military cooperation in recent years, particularly in Syria, where both have backed former President Bashar al-Assad.

Additionally, Russia has deployed Iranian-made drones and missiles in Ukraine, despite Tehran’s official denials.

One of the key components of the agreement is energy cooperation, Putin announcing that Russia is moving forward with plans to export natural gas to Iran, with projections reaching 55 billion cubic meters per year.

However, he acknowledged delays in Russia’s nuclear infrastructure projects in Iran, saying, "We have a major project in the nuclear power industry. One unit is already operational, and we are discussing the possibility of building additional units."

The strengthening of ties between Russia and Iran has accelerated in recent years, driven by mutual isolation stemming from Western sanctions – imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and on Iran for its nuclear program, support for regional armed groups, and human rights abuses – as well as a shared strategic interest in countering US influence in the region.

Both countries are also seeking ways to circumvent the sanctions, with recent discussions exploring the expansion of trade using national currencies and alternative financial mechanisms.

Analysts suggest that the timing of the ratification process may also be influenced by the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

According to a presidential decree released Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko will serve as Putin’s official representative when presenting the treaty for consideration in the Russian Federal Assembly.