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Iran is ready to resume atomic negotiations with the United States provided that it is handled with "respect" and "honor", Iran's foreign minister has announced.

Abbas Araghchi said solely negotiations worked, and disclosed fresh requests had originated from go-betweens to resume talks with the US government. He said Iran had zero unreported enrichment locations, and Tehran could not yet permit the global atomic watchdog to visit struck enrichment centers for security reasons.

Walking a Complex Route

The foreign minister is treading a difficult route since Iran wishes not to be perceived to be operating from a situation of weakness, and he consistently maintained that Iran had come out more powerful militarily and mentally from the coordinated strike on its nuclear sites in June.

He was addressing at a strategic meeting in Tehran where he reaffirmed that Iran had "a fundamental entitlement to process nuclear material domestically that it will never give up" – the main reason of the stalemate in the previous talks.

Previous Negotiations Abruptly Concluded

The previous five rounds of talks between the US and Iran were brought to an abrupt and acrimonious conclusion on 12 June when the Israeli government, with US support, targeted Iranian nuclear sites in a two-week conflict that ended with Donald Trump declaring the locations had been eliminated. Following this, Western states exercised their privilege to reimpose global restrictions, but Iran insists they have not had a substantial consequence.

Magic Solution Proposed

Iranian officials said they felt they had attained a "ideal resolution" to the enrichment issue in prior discussions, when it was settled an local partnership with US participation could process nuclear material. Each party would have been able to declare success since local refinement would have remained and the US could be confident that Iran's enrichment initiative was exclusively peaceful.

It had not been decided in the discussions that American atomic experts could operate within Iranian territory, but that was a natural consequence of the consortium proposal. Representatives claimed repeatedly they had achieved a deal with Washington's diplomat the American negotiator only for the agreement to collapse due to "spoilers in Washington".

Current Status

Tehran representatives declared the cooperative arrangement was now off the table, but it seems highly likely the offer could be revived in certain ways if negotiations reopen.

Trump last week said he had been obtaining communications that Iran desired to reopen negotiations, but confidentially Iran's diplomats state they are not yet obtaining clear proposals from America 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 charged of inactivity in the wake of Trump's direct instinctive approach, but Iran says diplomacy is not part of a show.

Diplomatic Position

In his address to the forum, intended to portray the US as a dominant force that abuses the notion of international law, Araghchi stated the 12-day war revealed the clash could not be resolved by armed force. He asserted the assaults started with a US demand for an complete Tehran capitulation and ended with an complete request for a truce.

Iran is certain the initial Israeli attacks were mounted with total Washington understanding and coordination, making faith challenging to restore.

Diplomacy Stays the Final Resolution

The foreign minister declared: "Tehran was not the one that had abandoned dialogue; it was America and the European states that had always sought to dictate their demands during the negotiations. Dialogue can still be viable and remains the ultimate answer to settle disputes, but its requirements, regulations and tenets must be adhered to."

"Provided that they address to the citizens of Tehran with the tone of dignity and respect, they will receive a reply in the equivalent tone."

Repair and Recovery

In what is described by Iranian officials as the struggle of recovery and rebuilding, the foreign minister said he was certain Iran's military capacities "are much stronger than prior to 13 or 14 June of this year. All our capabilities have been rebuilt. We gained multiple understandings from this war; we have come to know our own weaknesses and the shortcomings of the adversary."

He added: "We managed to survive this war. Our atomic expertise, which they aimed to eliminate, continues to exist. The facilities and machinery, if destroyed, will be restored; what is crucial is the determination of the citizens of Tehran and then the national cohesion that they sought to undermine, but failed to destroy. The Iranian people have become stronger, more integrated, and more endorsing of the administration and the state in the face of this attack."