"We are not seeking war": Iranian president asks US for more negotiation and dialogue amid nuclear talks

Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said over the weekend that his country is opposed to war and is actively seeking dialogue with the U.S. to further develop a civilian nuclear program.

Pezeshkian was addressing Navy officers in the port city of Bandar Abbas, where he spoke about ongoing negotiations with Washington to reach a nuclear deal.

"We are not seeking war; we favor negotiation and dialogue, but we are not afraid of threats either, and we will in no way retreat from our legal rights," said the Iranian leader, who has been labeled as more moderate and open with the West than his predecessors.

The remarks by Pezeshkian come after the United States and Iran held four rounds of indirect negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

Despite multiple meetings, the direction of the talks remains uncertain. Although messages of moderate optimism have been conveyed from Washington and Tehran after the end of each of the meetings, in practice, key issues such as Iran's uranium enrichment rate and the management of current stockpile levels have not yet been addressed.

The Iranian government has made it clear that, at least for now, it is unwilling to curb its enrichment projects for civilian and scientific purposes. The Trump Administration's position is diametrically opposed: it demands that Iran completely suspend any enrichment. Today, Tehran processes uranium with a purity of 60%, well above the limits set by the failed agreement signed in 2015, a pact from which Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. 

In parallel to the negotiations, political tensions remain. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei launched new criticism against President Trump after his passage through the Middle East, while Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi assured this weekend that his country has not received any written proposal from Washington and that it will not give up its right to continue enriching uranium.

"Mark my words: there is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes," Araghchi wrote on his X account. "It is a right afforded to all other NPT signatories, too."

For his part, Trump spoke to Fox News about the possibility of a deal with Iran and expressed willingness to open up bilateral trade if negotiations move forward.

"Iran wants to trade with us," he said in the interview. "And I’m OK with it."