Iran's Prez Pezeshkian says he's open to talks with US despite strikes

Arsalan Shahla

 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Tucker Carlson his country remains open to talks with the US, but that it was difficult to trust Washington after its strikes last month.

 

“I’m of the belief that we could very much, easily resolve the differences and conflicts with the United States through dialog and talks,” Pezeshkian told Carlson in an almost-30 minute video interview conducted through an interpreter and aired on Monday.

 

Pezeshkian claimed the Trump administration authorised Israeli attacks on Iran that began on June 13. Those were followed by US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. The Iranian president added that Israel’s bombardment targeted him and some of his colleagues directly while they were in a meeting. He said the attack failed, without giving further details.

 

Israel killed several leading Iranian military commanders and atomic scientists during the 12-day war.

 

Iran and the US were poised for their sixth round of nuclear negotiations, mediated by Oman, when Israel started its campaign.

 

Pezeshkian was elected last year. While powerful, most of Iran’s strategic military and foreign-policy decision are taken by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

Pezeshkian said the US strikes “severely damaged” nuclear infrastructure and equipment. In response, Iran launched missiles at a Qatari air base used by US forces. Noone was injured in the retaliation, with Iran forewarning the US and Qatar so that the base could be evacuated.

 

“There’s a condition for restarting the talks: how are we going to trust the United States again?” Pezeshkian said. “We enter the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime won’t be given permission to attack us again?”

 

Iran has “no problem re-entering the negotiations” but the country is “now facing a crisis that we need to put behind,” Pezeshkian added.

 

Last week, Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, accusing the United Nations watchdog of biased reports that Iranian officials say provided justification for Israel’s strikes.

 

Pezeshkian said Tehran remains open to working with the IAEA. But, he said, renewed supervision from the Vienna-based body would have to wait until damage assessments were completed.