Trump says Iran wants a deal 'very badly', US is talking to Iran

Saeed Khatibzadeh, deputy foreign minister and head of the ministry’s political studies center, told CNN that Iran’s nuclear program “cannot be shut down,” adding that infrastructure had been damaged in recent conflicts but the program rests on “domestically developed knowledge spread across the country.”

He added US officials must abandon the idea of leveraging diplomacy to achieve goals they failed to secure through military pressure.

“We cannot enter a negotiation that is doomed to fail and ultimately becomes a pretext for another war. If the other side accepts the logic of negotiation – meaning give-and-take – sets aside certain illusions, and stops trying to use political and diplomatic tools to obtain what it could not achieve through a military campaign, then we can move forward within the framework outlined by the Supreme Leader.” 

Khatibzadeh said Iran remains prepared to avoid further escalation in the region but warned that the country “is not an easy target,” citing the 12-day conflict with Israel earlier this year. “Iran is the oldest continuous living civilization on Earth,” he said. “The only language we respond to is the language of respect and equal-footing dialogue.”

Asked about US demands over Iran’s nuclear activities, he said international law makes clear that Tehran is entitled to the full range of peaceful nuclear rights as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and under IAEA oversight. 

“Iran will not accept being treated as an exception,” he said. “Ideas such as halting enrichment entirely or restricting Iran’s basic rights are unacceptable.”

Prospect of another war 

Khatibzadeh said Iran had already begun rebuilding its defensive posture after the ceasefire.

“The other side is preparing for another war,” he said. “Every legitimate defensive capability must be strengthened. No country compromises on its national security and Iran is no exception.”

He added that Iran’s goal remains to prevent another conflict. “We are trying to change the strategic calculations in Tel Aviv and Washington,” he said. “We are ready for any adventure they may attempt, but we are doing everything to avoid war.”

He rejected suggestions that Iran’s missile strikes during the conflict were ineffective. 

“They claimed Iran could not respond,” he said. “They censored the reality and said our missile penetration rate was 10%, then later 30–40%. The truth is much higher. With our advanced missiles we were able to penetrate multiple defense layers and strike wherever and whenever we chose.”

Khatibzadeh said Iran maintains multi-layered relations with Russia and a strategic partnership with China, and would continue cooperation with both countries. 

He also dismissed speculation that Iran might reassess its position on nuclear weapons. “We are members of the NPT and the IAEA. Even after hostile actions by the Trump administration and the bombing of peaceful nuclear facilities, we did not leave the NPT,” he said. “Our nuclear program is peaceful and supported by the Leader’s fatwa.”

Mojtahedi, host of the weekly podcast ‘Eye for Iran’ for Iran International English and a frequent author of investigative reports and in-depth interviews, reflected on her Iranian roots and the plight of Iran's people in her acceptance speech.

“I’ve often asked myself one simple question: What is best for the people of Iran? Not for its rulers, but for the men, women, and children whose voices are too often ignored,” Mojtahedi added. “Because when politics and power fall away, they are what truly matter.”

“At its heart, journalism is about truth. It’s about shining a light where others want darkness. It’s about giving voice to those who are silenced and holding the powerful, whoever they may be, to account,” Mojtahedi said.

Democratic values

The Transatlantic Leadership Network also honored Iran International TV for excellence in international reporting.

Executive Editor Mehdi Parpanchi, accepting on behalf of the 24-hour Persian-language channel broadcasting from London and Washington, thanked TLN for strengthening international dialogue and democratic values.

“For us, this recognition is not only about the team that works tirelessly to make our work possible: the journalists, producers, editors, presenters, engineers, and technicians who deliver the truth,” Parpanchi said.

"Above all we dedicate this award to the viewers inside Iran who often take real risks just to access independent news, he added.

Parpanchi cited a recent independent survey on how Iranians accessed news during the 12-day war with Israel in June, saying the network surpassed competitors and even state-run television.

“The survey found that Iran International was cited by 43 percent of respondents as their main source of television news,” Parpanchi said. “The state broadcaster IRIB stood at about 27%, and BBC Persian under 9%.”

More than half of respondents said they relied primarily on social media for news during the war.

Transatlantic Leadership Network is a DC based nonprofit think tank. It builds nonpartisan networks of leaders to strengthen transatlantic ties on security, economy, climate, and media freedom amid global shifts.

The Freedom of the Media Award, launched in 2021, recognizes bold journalism exposing repression and corruption.

On 2024, it was rewarded to Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad, Hanna Liubkova for investigative work in Balarus and Yann Philippin for specializing in financial scandals, corruption, and tax fraud in France.

"I do think there are people inside of Tehran who say in their quiet moments, we're a fading regime," said Norman Roule, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency for over 30 years who once oversaw its Iran desk.

"We're not so far off from the Soviet Union in our final days, our leadership is not going to crawl into the grave when the Supreme Leader dies with him, and we need to survive," he added. "How do we modulate these dials, and how do we play this?"

"It's not to say that the Islamic Republic is the Soviet Union or 2025 is 1989," said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the hawkish Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

"History doesn't repeat, it echoes, as they say, but I think it's important to remember that we grew up in an era where the Soviet Union looked invincible."

Dubowitz likened Tehran's change in tack on some social issues to the attempts by the Soviet Union's last premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, to implement partial reforms to save the Soviet system only to bring about its downfall.

A surprise Israeli military campaign in June killed hundreds of military personnel along with civilians, knocking out much of Iran's air defenses. The US joined the conflict by attacking three Iranian nuclear sites before clinching a ceasefire.

Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty military officer.

In the intervening months, the standoff over Iran's disputed nuclear program has festered as Washington under President Donald Trump has stepped up sanctions and European powers triggered the resumption of UN sanctions.

As the moves have deepened economic pain, Iran's clerical rulers have eased enforcement of Islamic veiling laws, paused a draconian new hijab law and looked the other way as once-banned outdoor concerts proliferate.

But crackdowns on dissidents and political speech have sharply mounted since the conflict, according to rights groups.

"There's a bit of a Soviet Union of the late 1980s. Who believed in the great Soviet revolution in 1988?" Roule told the panel moderated by Iran International's Fardad Farahzad. "This government is facing rot. It's just inevitable rot."

'Regime change'

At the height of the conflict, the leaders of both Israel and the United States suggested a desire to topple Iran's ruling system but a ceasefire implemented by President Trump made the prospect more distant.

Israel, Dubowitz asserted, remains dedicated to uprooting its arch-enemy in the region.

"After many, many years, that bringing down the regime in Iran is now a central pillar of Israeli strategy. I think October 7 ... changed everything. I think this is 'we can no longer live with the Islamic Republic. We know that Khamenei is committed to our destruction.'"

Roule expressed doubt that any outside power could carry out transformational change in Iran.

"I'm not sure that any external country can change that entire edifice, but certainly an external country such as the United States can and should be providing whatever support that can be provided so that the Iranian people can change that structure from within to what they need to give themselves that better future," he said.

Tehran has accused Israel and the West of trying and failing to topple the system which it attributes to popular support and resistance against foreign aggression.

Authorities this month erected a billboard in Tehran's Revolution Square with Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi shown imprisoned in the Statue of Liberty's crown - victims, according to state ideology, of US regime change misadventures.

"They didn't survive an attack by the United States or Israel," Roule said. "They survived a surgical strike by the United States on select nuclear facilities."

Dubowitz acknowledged the term regime change was deeply unpopular in Washington.

"I think in our system, we don't like the word regime change because of our experience with Iraq and Afghanistan, though no one's talking about 500,000 mechanized US troops invading Iran," Dubowitz added.

"What we're actually talking about is the Reagan strategy, right, which Ronald Reagan successfully implemented in the 1980s which is maximum support for anti regime dissidents while putting maximum pressure on the regime."

“Things that might succeed in the short term may have very different consequences long term,” the paper quoted Malley, who served under US President Donald Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, as saying.

The region’s history, he added, is “a whole list of military 'successes'” that later backfired.

Malley pointed to Israel’s military actions in the region, including attacks in Beirut and against the Palestine Liberation Organization in Tunis, as well as the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the American intervention in Lebanon.

He said these supposed short-term “victories” often “end up boomeranging,” with consequences that included the rise of Osama bin Laden, stronger Iranian influence in Iraq, the Taliban’s return to power and the emergence of Hezbollah.

Malley told the newspaper that Israeli and US attacks on Iran in June revealed the extent of Israeli access to Iranian airspace and intelligence related to Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs.

The attacks, he said, showed that “Israel had supremacy over Iranian airspace and extraordinary intelligence” regarding Iranian personnel and facilities.

That assessment could affect Tehran’s calculations if it considers rebuilding parts of its nuclear program, Malley said.

“If Iran chooses to restore or resume its nuclear program, it’s going to have to think many times, because it knows that Israel is watching and the US is watching,” he said.

Malley said the June strikes “did set back Iran’s nuclear program,” though “it didn’t obliterate it in the way that President Trump said,” the report added.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but Israel and Western countries doubt its intentions. Washington has demanded Tehran end all domestic enrichment.

Diplomatic breakthrough or further escalation?

On the outlook for US–Iran relations, Malley said he could imagine either further military escalation or a diplomatic breakthrough under President Trump.

“I wouldn’t be surprised” by renewed US–Israeli strikes, Malley was quoted as saying, but he added that he “wouldn’t be shocked” if Washington and Tehran reached an understanding that halted Iranian enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief and restored UN inspections.

Malley warned that deep mistrust in Tehran has made negotiations more difficult, telling the newspaper that Iranian leaders believe Trump “betrayed them not once, not twice, but three times.”

US talks with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program began earlier this year with a 60-day ultimatum. On the 61st day, June 13, Israel launched a surprise military campaign which was capped with US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear sites in Esfahan, Natanz and Fordow.

Iran said on Saturday that its Revolutionary Guards had intercepted the M/V Talara, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, in Iranian territorial waters a day earlier over alleged cargo violations.

It was the first tanker seizure by Tehran since Israeli and US strikes on Iran in June, raising concerns about the safety of commercial shipping carrying energy supplies in the world's largest oil-exporting region.

Columbia Shipmanagement on Monday said the tanker's captain made contact with the company at 1730 GMT on November 16.

“All crew members are reported to be safe and accounted for. The vessel is now safely anchored off the coast of Bandar Abbas,” it said in a statement, adding that 21 seafarers were on board.

The company said contact was lost with the vessel on November 14 while it was transiting international waters via Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Singapore with a cargo of high sulphur gasoil.

“Columbia Shipmanagement is working with regional partners to urgently resolve the situation and secure the release of our crew,” the company said.

The company's statement came a day after US Central Command (CENTCOM) accused Iran of violating international law and urged Tehran to explain the legal basis for the seizure.

Iran has stepped up maritime enforcement in recent months, especially in waters near the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, where fuel smuggling remains a persistent issue due to price differences with neighboring countries.

The IRGC announced the seizure was part of what it describes as efforts to curb fuel smuggling. It has in the past often cited alleged smuggling, technical violations or other miscellaneous maritime offences for seizing vessels.