Iran says willing to accept limits on nuclear program if sanctions lifted

“We will in no way accept any border blockade with Armenia,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said. “The claim of a 99-year lease to the US has no basis and is fabricated news.”

Armenia’s deputy foreign minister will visit Tehran on Tuesday, while President Masoud Pezeshkian and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are scheduled to hold a phone call later on Monday, Baghaei added during his weekly briefing.

The announcement follows a US-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan signed Friday at the White House. The agreement grants Washington rights to develop the route—renamed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity”—linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia.

Tehran has repeatedly warned against foreign control over the corridor, which bypasses both Iran and Russia.

IAEA's technical visit to Tehran

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began talks in Tehran on Monday, including meetings at the foreign ministry, Baghaei confirmed, saying that discussions were “technical and complex” but declined to predict the outcome.

“In the history of the agency’s work, we have never seen a peaceful nuclear facility under 24-hour monitoring attacked, without the IAEA condemning it,” he said, adding that the consultations would focus on future cooperation in light of recent events and parliamentary resolutions.

In late June, Iran’s parliament approved a bill to suspend the country’s cooperation with the IAEA, a day after a ceasefire with Israel following 12 days of deadly war.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the UN’s nuclear watchdog has warned that the levels of uranium enrichment Tehran is pursuing have no civilian justification.

Talks with US and EU

The spokesman denied reports that Norway would host the next round of talks between Iran and the United States.

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 scientists as well as hundreds of civilians. Iran responded with missile strikes that killed 32 Israelis.

Talks with E3

On negotiations with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Baghaei said discussions had not stopped.

“At the Istanbul meeting about two weeks ago, both sides agreed to continue talks, but no time or venue has been decided,” he added.

France, Britain, and Germany have said they will activate the United Nations snapback mechanism against Iran by the end of August if no tangible progress is made on a nuclear deal.

The snapback mechanism is part of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. It allows any participant in the nuclear agreement to reimpose sanctions if Iran is deemed non-compliant. If no resolution to maintain sanctions relief is passed within 30 days, all previous UN measures return automatically.

Lebanon and regional diplomacy

On Lebanon, Baghaei said Tehran recognizes the country’s inherent right to defend itself against Israel.

“Exercising this right without weapons is impossible. The decision on this rests with Lebanon,” he said.

Lebanon's cabinet instructed the army last week to develop a plan by the end of the year aimed at creating a state monopoly on weapons—an implicit challenge to Hezbollah, which has resisted disarmament since last year’s conflict with Israel.

Hezbollah decried the move as a "grave sin" and vowed to ignore it.

Baghaei said the newly appointed Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani’s visits to Iraq and Lebanon were part of Iran’s neighborhood policy, aimed at finalizing security agreements and advancing regional peace.

In Beirut, Larijani is expected to meet senior officials for talks on stability in West Asia, he added.

“Living next to an occupying entity that knows no limits in committing crimes is difficult. Our position in supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty has always been clear,” Baghaei said.

Senior Iranian officials, including Velayati and military commander Iraj Masjedi, have publicly opposed the move, describing it as an American- and Israeli-driven policy that will fail.

The Lebanese foreign ministry in a statement on X condemned the remarks as "a flagrant and unacceptable interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs."

Ebrahim Aziz said that Tehran is not afraid of dialogue but accused Washington of repeatedly breaking its commitments.

“Some interpret negotiation as retreat, but this view is incorrect. Iran has consistently engaged with strength and adherence to principles, while the other side has repeatedly violated its obligations,” Azizi said at a press conference.

He added that Iran remains open to talks only if the other party respects the fundamental rules of negotiation.

“No specific date or venue has been set for new talks, and it is possible that the outcome of our assessments will be that negotiating with an uncommitted side is not permissible,” he said.

Azizi reaffirmed Iran’s right to uranium enrichment, saying that while Iran would not negotiate the principle of enrichment, discussions could occur regarding the level and percentage of enrichment.

He also emphasized that lifting sanctions is a critical national interest, but Tehran demands lasting guarantees given past experiences with broken deals.

The 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The US withdrawal under former President Donald Trump in 2018 triggered a gradual unraveling of the deal, with Iran scaling back its commitments and European parties failing to deliver promised economic benefits.

Regarding Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Azizi said Tehran suspended cooperation due to the agency’s misleading reports that “paved the way for military attacks.”

He accused IAEA chief Rafael Grossi of politicizing the agency and said that future cooperation would be restructured according to new parliamentary laws.

Iran’s state-run English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported on Friday that Tehran and Washington may start Norway-mediated indirect talks in August, covering Iran’s nuclear program and compensation demands over the June war with Israel and the US.

The US has called Iran’s compensation demand “ridiculous,” urging Tehran to stop funding militias and its nuclear program.

Iran and the US held five rounds of talks earlier this year; a sixth was suspended after Israeli airstrikes on Iranian sites triggered a 12-day conflict with casualties on both sides.

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.”