Iranupdated 1h ago3 min read
Iran Says Indirect Talks With U.S. Continue Despite Trump Attack Threats
“Iran has issued a warning to the United States that any new act of militarism would lead to an ‘unimaginable’ response”
“Delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey meet in Iran to try to avert renewed fighting”
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Indirect talks with the United States are ongoing, Iran maintaining its positions despite Trump threats. Iran says messages are exchanged through intermediaries, keeping the door open for diplomacy.
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Diplomacy, but threats
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said indirect negotiations with the United States continue, while Tehran told the U.S. it will not change its positions even if President Donald Trump orders a resumption of American attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that the Monday meeting agenda was not set, but the talks would “undoubtedly address the most pressing threats to regional security,” while Saudi Arabia said in a statement the delegations hoped to find “ways to de-escalate tensions, enhance regional security and promote its stability.”
President Trump said Sunday he was reaching an agreement with Iran and taking action to "finish them off," and he also kept open the possibility of a new round of major strikes.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said before departing Tehran that his visit to Moscow would include discussions aimed at securing energy transit routes and eliminating insecurity in the Middle East, which he said was caused by the war sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran almost eight months ago.
The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government claimed Monday to have shot down three more drones over Riyadh and in the south of the country, with coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki announcing the “interception and destruction of 3 drones in the Riyadh region and the southern region.”
Messages via intermediaries
Iran said it is still exchanging messages with the United States through intermediaries, leaving the door open to diplomacy even as tensions rise over a possible return to all-out war. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran remains open to diplomacy despite what it described as Washington’s unilateral demands, and President Donald Trump said Sunday there would be no U.S. strikes against Iran that day. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran will not discuss its nuclear program at talks on Monday with members of the Mecca Pact, and the official said the U.S. must first meet Tehran’s conditions to end its war against Iran permanently.
Iran’s proposal, conveyed to Washington through mediators in mid-September, includes lifting a US blockade of Iranian ports, easing sanctions on Iranian oil exports and ending hostilities on all regional fronts. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday’s discussions would include “Israel’s expansionist policies, developments in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and the repercussions of U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran.”
Hormuz and escalation risk
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that Iran would not back down if attacked, telling parliament that “Americans think that with a few levers of media pressure or military threats, they can make this great nation surrender to them.” Qalibaf said Iran would defend what it considers the country’s territorial integrity, and he insisted that threats of a wider war would not compel the country to abandon its interests. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the war with the U.S. and Israel means the security situation in the region has completely changed, and he said “The shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz will no longer be the same as before.”
Iran’s army said its air defence systems shot down a US LUCAS drone over Bandar Abbas, a port city in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. The Jerusalem Post reported that Tehran threatened to respond to a renewed U.S. and Israeli air campaign with strikes on an expanded list of targets, including civilian infrastructure, and the report said Iran would attack “natural energy infrastructure, natural gas pipelines, airports, and other civilian targets in the Persian Gulf region.”