No established ceasefire between Iran, Israel: Araghchi

ISLAMABAD: Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi has revealed that there was no established ceasefire between his country and Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday quoting an interview with the Iranian Students’ News Agency.

“The aggression has stopped, and in turn our right to defend has stopped,” Araghchi said.

“That’s it. There is no ceasefire agreement; there is nothing else. They stopped the aggression without any conditions, and we stopped the defence. When there is no aggression, naturally, there is no reason to defend ourselves. So since they asked for the attacks to stop without any conditions, we accepted.

“Everything can resume. They can resume, we can resume. There is no official ceasefire, and everything is possible, and it is not just Iran that should be worried and concerned.”

In the same interview, the Iran’s foreign minister asserted that it was necessary for Tehran to continue enriching uranium and that Iranian healthcare was dependent on an enrichment of at least 20 percent.

While Iran has held discussions with a number of European officials since talks with the US failed, Araghchi said, “Why should we continue negotiations with them? So there is only one reason to negotiate with the Europeans, and that is the trigger mechanism. Because they cannot lift or terminate the sanctions, they cannot stop the aggression. They cannot do anything. The only leverage they think they have is the possibility of activating the trigger mechanism, and if they do that, everything is over and they will no longer play any role in the future of the Iranian nuclear negotiations.”

He maintained that there was strong pressure on Tehran to walk away from any negotiations, claiming that the recent 12-day war signalled the Trump administration was disinterested in reaching any real agreement.

Araghchi hinted that financial compensation may be necessary for Tehran to re-enter negotiations with the US, mirroring sentiments previously expressed to the Financial Times. “Financial compensation for what has been imposed on us, and of course, as you know, a significant number of our people have been martyred in these attacks. So we cannot simply return to negotiations and pretend that everything is normal. The situation is no longer the same,” he said.

“They have attacked us. Our facilities have been severely damaged. So we cannot enter negotiations and pretend that nothing has happened. This is obvious. So this time the negotiations will be much more difficult, and they must understand that by attacking our nuclear facilities, they have not made the path of negotiations easier, but rather more complicated and difficult.”

While acknowledging that so-called Israeli ‘Operation Rising Lion’ had damaged much of Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, Araghchi claimed that Iran was capable of restoring the facilities. “Although many advanced centrifuges have been lost in Fordow and Natanz, we can still enrich, we still have the capacity to enrich uranium after the attacks,” he said.

“...We have the theoretical and practical knowledge of it…We had everything before the attacks. The buildings are rebuilt, and the machines are replaced because the technology is there; we have many scientists and technicians who were working in our facilities, and, as I said, we have the ability to do this. But when and how we resume enrichment depends on the circumstances.”