Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed a letter from US Vice President JD Vance as a possible opening for renewed dialogue, but said Tehran had no plans to meet American officials. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, he described the US outreach as a "positive step" while making clear that Iran's conditions for negotiations remained in place.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the letter reached Tehran on Wednesday. Iran has not formally replied. Araghchi said senior officials had held meetings to discuss the message, which he characterized as an American effort to create an opening for dialogue and broader understanding between the two countries.
Despite that assessment, Araghchi dismissed reports of a prospective meeting with US officials as speculation in the media. He said there was currently no need for such a meeting because Iran had clearly stated its requirements and mediators were still consulting on them. Washington would have to satisfy those conditions before either direct or indirect negotiations could take place, he told Al Jazeera.
On the nuclear issue, Araghchi said Iran had entered a second stage of examining proposals submitted by mediators. His aide was in Qatar for further discussions, he said, while Qatari and Pakistani intermediaries continued consultations concerning Tehran's demands. He also said an arrangement reached through the mediators would shorten the implementation of Iran's proposal to two days.
The conditions he outlined included removing sanctions imposed after the Islamabad memorandum and decreasing the American military presence in the region. Tehran also wanted oil waivers restored and all of its frozen funds released, including money held in Qatar.
Araghchi linked the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under Iran's conditions to a possible return to negotiations with Washington. He said such a reopening would create a path toward discussions about issues that remained unresolved between the two sides.
Alongside his comments on diplomacy, Araghchi warned that any American attempt to use Vance's letter to provoke discord would constitute another mistake. He said Iran could not exclude the possibility of war and was prepared for every scenario, asserting that its forces had improved their weapons, corrected vulnerabilities and tested new arms.
The foreign minister described Iranian forces as being at their highest state of readiness and said Tehran would not surrender to the United States. He maintained that Iran would continue resisting and rely on its own capabilities to get through the difficult period.
