Iran may not enter new talks with US, senior lawmaker says

On Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a deal at the White House to settle a longtime dispute over the corridor, a strip of land which became a flash point in the two rivals’ decades-long conflict.

The deal gives Washington leasing rights to develop the transit corridor, which would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave, Nakhchivan. It will be renamed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). Though it will operate under Armenian legal jurisdiction, the US will lease the land to a private American company to manage construction and logistics.

“The Islamic Republic will not easily overlook the issue of Zangezur,” Ali Bagheri Kani, the secretary of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, told state broadcaster IRIB on Saturday evening in reaction to the US-brokered peace deal.

The Strategic Council on Foreign Relations is responsible for formulating strategies and policies and coordinating all foreign affairs activities. Its members and chair are appointed by the Supreme Leader.

Russia’s foreign ministry had also taken a position and said other countries would not remain silent, Bagheri Kani added.

Russia, a traditional ally and broker in the strategically vital South Caucasus, was excluded from the deal, despite its border guards stationed on the Armenia-Iran border.

While supporting the summit, Moscow urged that solutions be developed by regional countries themselves with support from their immediate neighbors—Russia, Iran, and Turkey—warning against the “sad experience” of Western mediation in the Middle East.

Kayhan calls plan a 'betrayal'

Bagheri Kani's remarks followed a sharply worded piece in Kayhan, a daily under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which described the agreement to build the Zangezur corridor as “a great betrayal” and warned that it “must not go unanswered” by the Islamic Republic.

“Iran should use the levers at its disposal to confront them and, as a first step, can invoke the Geneva and Jamaica conventions to ban the passage of US- and Israeli-affiliated vessels through the Strait of Hormuz,” wrote the daily on Sunday.

'Corridor will fail,' Khamenei advisor says

Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Khamenei, also rejected the project, warning Iran would stop its establishment “even without Moscow’s help” and accusing Washington of trying to reshape the South Caucasus.

“Mr Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Velayati told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Saturday.

“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries," he said, referring to Azerbaijan and Armenia. "It will become their graveyard."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed the US-brokered peace accord at the White House with US President Donald Trump.

The deal grants Washington exclusive development rights to a strategic route across Armenia linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, bypassing both Iran and Russia.

The White House has promoted the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” as a boost to energy exports and trade in the South Caucasus.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought repeated wars over Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s, most recently in 2023 when Baku regained full control of the enclave. While Russia mediated previous agreements, its sway has diminished since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In spite of the hardliners' reactions, Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday welcomed the peace text as an important step toward stability. However, it cautioned that projects near its borders must proceed “within the framework of mutual interests, with respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and without foreign interference.”

On Thursday, during a Purple Heart ceremony at the White House, Trump mentioned Soleimani by name and called him “the father of roadside bombs.”

Immediately after, Trump scoffed, “Where is he? Where is he?” As the attendees burst into laughter, he asked again, 'Where is Soleimani?'"

“There is a simple answer to the question ‘Where is Soleimani?’ He is precisely where your gaze points — at the heights of heaven,” Mohammad Hossein Ranjbaran, an advisor to Iran’s foreign minister, posted on X.

During his first term as president, Trump authorized the 2020 drone strike in Baghdad that killed the senior Iranian commander.

“They killed Haj Qasem, and we should have executed all American leaders because Haj Qasem’s worth was far greater than that,” said Elias Hazrati, head of the Government Information Council.

“But since war was not our strategy, we let it go. Then they martyred our guest Ismail Haniyeh, and still, we chose patience and silence,” Hazrati added.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed on July 31, 2024, along with his bodyguard inside a military-run guesthouse in Tehran shortly after attending the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The killing of Qasem Soleimani sparked outrage among hardliners in Iran, who vowed to exact revenge against Trump.

A senior Iranian official was quoted as saying by The Telegraph that most remaining scientists are no longer living at their homes or teaching at universities.

"They are either moved to safe houses in Tehran or to the north,” the official was quoted as saying. “Those who were teaching at universities are replaced with people who have no connection with the nuclear program.”

The newspaper said it was shown the names of more than 15 surviving researchers on a list of around 100 figures Israel says could face further targeting.

The relocations follow the execution this week of Roozbeh Vadi, a scientist hanged on Wednesday for allegedly providing information to Israel during the 12-day war in June.

Security arrangements for scientists have been overhauled since the June conflict, when the US struck Iranian nuclear sites with bunker-busting bombs and Tehran launched missiles at Israel, the report said.

Previously, a single Revolutionary Guards unit handled their security, but multiple agencies now share protective duties after some scientists said they no longer trusted their original guards, The Telegraph added citing an Iranian official.

'Dead men walking'

Israeli experts quoted by The Telegraph described the remaining personnel as “dead men walking” despite tightened security, including round-the-clock guards.

They said Iran’s nuclear program was designed with deputies for each key scientist, working in small teams to preserve capabilities in the event of an attack.

Danny Citrinowicz, former head of the Iranian strategic desk in Israeli Defense Intelligence, told The Telegraph that those who remain “will be at the forefront of any Iranian attempt to reach a nuclear bomb” and would “automatically become targets for Israel.”

Analysts believe some survivors have taken roles in the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), described by the US as “the direct successor organization to Iran’s pre-2004 nuclear weapons program.”

The figures had worked on adapting Shahab-3 missiles for nuclear warheads, making them “equally strategic targets” as those already killed, Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence and defense analyst was quoted as saying.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons, citing a religious edict by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei banning their use, and says its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful. Khamenei said last month that the West uses Tehran’s nuclear program as an excuse for confrontation.

“The first thing to understand about that operation it was very – it was very defined. It was targeted. It wasn’t about starting a broader war," said Rubio in a Thursday interview.

"It was actually an effort to escalate in order to de-escalate,” he told Raymond Arroyo of EWTN’s The World Over.

On June 22, Trump ordered airstrikes on nuclear sites at Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow two days before brokering a ceasefire to a 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel.

"It had a very clear objective. He established the objective. His military planners offered him a timeline, and then there were checkpoints along that timeline where we had to go back and check with the President: Are you okay? Are you okay?" Rubio said on Thursday.

The planning and execution were calm, with the president relying on past experience in office to avoid expanding the operation, according to Rubio.

Once the strikes were complete, Rubio said, the president was not inclined to order further attacks or seek additional targets.

"He had a very clear objective in mind, and he achieved it. And we immediately pivoted now to our goal was: okay, we achieved this objective, now how do we end this war on the 12th day and not let it become a regional war."

A US-brokered ceasefire was announced on June 24 between Iran and Israel after Tehran launched a retaliatory airstrike against a US airbase in Qatar.

The Israeli campaign against Iran during the 12-day war killed hundreds of Iranians including civilians, military personnel and nuclear scientists. Iran's retaliatory missile strikes also killed 29 Israeli civilians.

The paper said the discussions would be indirect, with the mediator acting as a go-between, and would cover both Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s demand for compensation over damages from the June war with Israel and the United States.

The United States has dismissed Iran’s compensation demand as “ridiculous,” with State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott saying earlier this month that Tehran should instead “stop funding terrorist death squads” and “stop wasting money on a nuclear program that isolates them further.”

Iran and the US held five rounds of talks between April and May this year in Muscat, Oman, and Rome, Italy. A sixth round was scheduled to take place in Muscat on June 15, but was indefinitely suspended after Israel launched airstrikes on Iran two days earlier.

The ensuing 12-day conflict in June included US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow, and Israeli strikes that destroyed critical infrastructure, killing several senior military and scientific figures as well as hundreds of civilians. Iran responded with missile strikes that killed at least 27 Israeli civilians.

Norwegian visit to Tehran

Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Kravik visited Tehran this week and met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. While the official readout made no mention of nuclear talks, the Tehran Times linked the trip to the mediation effort. Norway was among the few Western states to join 120 countries in condemning Israel’s June strikes on Iran.

Israeli attack was US-directed, Iranian president says

President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that the Israeli June strikes were conducted “with the guidance and support of America” and aimed to spread unrest through “blind strikes” and the assassination of military commanders, scientists and civilians. “When it comes to the security and independence of the country, all differences fade and the principle is Iran,” he said, adding that even political opponents joined in defending the country.

Trump calls Iran a ‘very evil place’

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that American action had prevented wider wars in the Middle East by “stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon.” He called Iran “a very evil place” and warned that if Tehran restarted its program, “we’ll be back as soon as they start.”