Dubai: Iran pushed back Wednesday against US President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear programme, alternating between calling his remarks big lies and saying negotiations may yield an agreement through honourable diplomacy.
The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday’s talks come as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships into the Middle East in decades, part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
If the negotiations fail, Trump repeatedly has threatened to attack Iran – something Mideast nations fear could spiral into a new regional war as the embers of the years-long Israel-Hamas war still smoulder. Already, Iran has said all US military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk the tens of thousands of American service members in the region. US warships typically docked in Bahrain appear to have been sent to sea, satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press show.
Iran responds to Trump’s State of the Union speech
Trump Tuesday night in the US gave his annual State of the Union speech, touching on Iran and the nuclear negotiations.
They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America, Trump said. They were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons programme, and in particular nuclear weapons, yet they continue. They’re starting it all over.
Satellite photos earlier analysed by the AP showed Iran beginning to rebuild its missile production sites and doing some work at the three nuclear sites attacked by the US in June. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful. The West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had a nuclear weapons programme until 2003. It had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity before the June attack – a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
Responding to Trump, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei sought to compare him to Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister. He accused Trump and his administration of conducting a disinformation & misinformation campaign against Iran.
Whatever they’re alleging regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of big lies, Baghaei wrote on X.
Trump said in his speech that at least 32,000 people were killed in the protests, which is at the far end of estimates offered by activists for the death toll. The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency has so far counted more than 7,000 dead and believes the death toll is far higher. Iran’s government, which has long downplayed death tolls in other unrest, offered its only toll Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, separately said the US could either try diplomacy or face Iran’s wrath.
If you choose the table of diplomacy – a diplomacy in which the dignity of the Iranian nation and mutual interests are respected – we will also be at that table, Qalibaf said, according to the semiofficial Student News Network, a media outlet believed to be close to the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
But if you decide to repeat past experiences through deception, lies, flawed analysis and false information, and launch an attack in the midst of negotiations, you will undoubtedly taste the firm blow of the Iranian nation and the country’s defensive forces.
Talks hang in the balance
Iran and the US are due to meet Thursday in Geneva, their third round of talks under the mediation of Oman, long an interlocutor between Tehran and the West.
If the talks fail, uncertainty hangs over the timing of any possible attack, as well as its mission and goals.
The US has not made clear the aims of possible military action. If the goal is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it’s not clear whether limited strikes will work. If the goal is to remove Iran’s leaders, that will likely commit the US to a more massive, longer military campaign. There has been no public sign of planning for what would come next, including the potential for chaos in Iran.
The status of Iran’s nuclear programme is another mystery. Trump earlier said American strikes obliterated it. Now, dismantling whatever remains of the programme appears to be back on the administration’s agenda. IAEA inspectors have not been allowed to inspect those sites and verify what remains.
There is also uncertainty about what any military action could mean for the wider region. Tehran could retaliate against the American-allied nations of the Persian Gulf or Israel. Oil prices have risen in recent days in part due to those concerns.
Satellite photos shot Tuesday by Planet Labs PBC and analysed by the AP appeared to show American vessels typically docked in Bahrain, the home of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, all out at sea. The 5th Fleet referred questions to the US military’s Central Command, which did not immediately respond. Before Iran’s attack on Qatar in June, the 5th Fleet similarly scattered its ships at sea to protect against a potential attack.
