Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani – seemingly the de facto leader of Iran following the liquidation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Operation Epic Fury – insisted on social media that he will never negotiate with the United States, but there were reports on Sunday that Larijani has quietly reached out through intermediaries in Oman to resume nuclear talks.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted U.S. and Arab officials on Sunday who said Larijani reached out to Oman, which mediated the past three rounds of indirect nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, and expressed a desire to resume negotiations after suffering days of devastating airstrikes from the United States and Israel.
WATCH — Operation Epic Fury in Action:
President Donald Trump appeared to confirm reports that “Iran,” generally, is seeking talks in a telephone interview with the Atlantic on Sunday morning.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump said.
“They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” he added.
Trump made similar comments to the UK Daily Mail on Sunday, although he said he was uncertain if discussions could resume “soon.”
“They want to, they want to talk, but I said you should have talked last week not this week,” he said.
Larijani directly responded to the WSJ article on Sunday evening in a post on social media platform X, which is forbidden to his captive subjects. “We will not negotiate with the United States,” he stated.
“Trump plunged the region into chaos with his ‘delusional fantasies’ and now fears more American troop casualties,” Larijani railed in another X post on Sunday night.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, nominal leader of negotiations with the United States, was bitter and belligerent in an interview with ABC News on Sunday, but he did not completely rule out resuming talks.
“We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months, and in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of negotiation, and that has become a very bitter experience for us,” he said.
Araghchi repeated Iran’s standard line about how the negotiations in Oman and Geneva had been going well, and a “deal was at our reach.”
In truth, Iran’s reported lack of concessions and constant repetition of its maximalist demands – including the absurd Iranian talking point that Tehran has no ambition to ever develop nuclear weapons because the late Ayatollah Khamenei issued a religious edit or fatwa forbidding them – appeared to be a harbinger of the attacks to come this weekend.
NBC News reported on Sunday that Iran “balked” at U.S. demands to halt uranium enrichment for the next ten years and Araghchi reiterated Iran’s “inalienable right” to enrich uranium, another negotiation-killing Iranian talking point.
A U.S. official allegedly told NBC that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff responded that America has an equally “inalienable right” to stop Iran from enriching uranium, which caused Araghchi to begin “yelling.” Witkoff responded to the tantrum by saying, “If you prefer, I can leave.”
NBC’s source said Trump was “nonplussed” by the outcome of this meeting and combat operations against Iran began soon afterward.
“They weren’t willing to stop their nuclear research. They weren’t willing to say they will not have a nuclear weapon. Very simple,” Trump replied when NBC asked him on Sunday what prompted him to order the attack.
