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Tehran is ready to resume atomic discussions with Washington on condition that it is approached with "dignity" and "respect", Iran's foreign minister has declared.

Abbas Araghchi said exclusively dialogue produced results, and revealed recent overtures had been made by go-betweens to reopen discussions with the American leadership. He asserted Iran did not have undeclared nuclear sites, and Tehran was not yet able to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect struck enrichment centers for security reasons.

Navigating a Challenging Path

The foreign minister is walking a difficult route since Iran wishes not to be seen to be acting from a position of disadvantage, and he consistently maintained that Iran had come out more resilient defensively and psychologically from the coordinated strike on its atomic facilities in June.

He was talking at a security conference in Tehran where he reiterated that Iran had "a fundamental entitlement to enrich uranium on home soil that it will always maintain" – the key factor of the stalemate in the prior discussions.

Earlier Discussions Abruptly Concluded

The earlier sessions of discussions between the United States and Iran were concluded unexpectedly and acrimonious termination on 12 June when Israel, with American backing, struck Tehran's atomic facilities in a two-week conflict that culminated with the US president asserting the facilities had been obliterated. Following this, European countries employed their right to reimpose UN-wide sanctions, but Iran asserts they have not had a major impact.

Ideal Resolution Proposed

Iranian officials said they felt they had reached a "ideal resolution" to the uranium processing matter in earlier negotiations, when it was decided an local partnership with US participation could process nuclear material. Both sides would have been able to declare success since home-based processing would have continued and the US could be confident that Iran's enrichment initiative was exclusively peaceful.

It had not been decided in the discussions that US nuclear scientists could work on Iranian soil, but that was a reasonable assumption of the consortium proposal. Diplomats claimed three times they had achieved a deal with Trump's special envoy the American negotiator only for the deal to collapse due to "spoilers in Washington".

Current Status

Tehran representatives said the cooperative arrangement was now off the table, but it seems very probable the offer could be resurrected in various formats if negotiations restart.

Trump last week claimed he had been receiving messages that Iran wanted to restart talks, but confidentially Iranian officials claim they are not yet receiving coherent offers from the United States either directly or from key regional mediators, such as the Qatari government, Egypt, the Omani authorities and the Saudi kingdom. The Iranian foreign ministry has been accused of inactivity in the aftermath of the US president's straightforward manner, but Tehran says dialogue is not part of a show.

Negotiating Standpoint

In his address to the forum, intended to paint the US as a dominant force that exploits the idea of worldwide standards, Araghchi stated the 12-day war showed the conflict could not be resolved by armed force. He asserted the strikes commenced with a US demand for an complete Tehran capitulation and ended with an absolute demand for a truce.

Iran is convinced the first strikes by Israel were executed with full US knowledge and coordination, making confidence hard to restore.

Diplomacy Stays the Final Answer

Araghchi said: "It was not Iran that had abandoned negotiations; it was America and the western countries that had consistently attempted to enforce their desires during the discussions. Negotiations can still be viable and remains the primary resolution to address disputes, but its requirements, guidelines and tenets must be adhered to."

"In case they speak to the nation of Iran with the tone of dignity and respect, they will receive a answer in the identical language."

Restoration and Reconstruction

In what is portrayed by Iran's diplomats as the battle of restoration and recovery, the foreign minister said he was confident Iran's defence capabilities "are considerably enhanced than preceding 13 or 14 June of this year. All our capabilities have been restored. We gained multiple understandings from this engagement; we have discovered our internal vulnerabilities and the vulnerabilities of the enemy."

He added: "We successfully passed this war. Our atomic expertise, which they aimed to destroy, stays intact. The installations and equipment, if eliminated, will be reconstructed; what is essential is the resolve of the Iranian people and then the social solidarity that they aimed at, but failed to destroy. The Iranian people have developed more powerful, more united, and more backing of the leadership and the country in the face of this attack."