Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that while dialogue could resolve Iran’s differences with the United States, recent US and Israeli attacks have shattered trust, raising doubts about any future negotiations, Al Jazeera reported.
“How are we going to trust the United States again?” Pezeshkian asked in a recent interview with US podcaster Tucker Carlson. “How can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?”
Tehran could resolve its conflicts with the United States through dialogue, but trust remains a major issue following US and Israeli attacks on the country, Al Jazeera reported.
“I am of the belief that we could very much easily resolve our differences and conflicts with the United States through dialogue and talks,” Pezeshkian told Carlson in an interview conducted on Saturday and released on Monday.
His remarks come just weeks after Israel carried out an unprecedented bombing campaign on June 13 targeting Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. Al Jazeera reported that the attacks occurred just two days before a scheduled round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, effectively derailing the talks aimed at reaching a deal over Iran’s atomic programme.
A week later, on June 21, the United States bombed three key Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
Al Jazeera noted that Iranian state media has placed the death toll from the 12-day conflict at at least 1,060.
President Pezeshkian also accused Israel of attempting to assassinate him during the June strikes. “They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” he told Carlson. “It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting, they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting.”
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 16 that he would not rule out plans to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claiming such an act would “end the conflict”. At the time, reports indicated that US President Donald Trump had vetoed the move.
While a ceasefire between Iran and Israel has held since June 24, Pezeshkian accused Netanyahu of pushing a policy of “forever wars” in the Middle East and cautioned Trump not to be dragged into another conflict.
“The United States’ president, Mr. Trump, he is capable enough to guide the region towards peace and a brighter future and put Israel in its place. Or get into a pit, an endless pit, or a swamp,” said Pezeshkian, according to Al Jazeera. “So it is up to the United States president to choose which path.”
Netanyahu is currently in Washington for talks at the White House, where Trump confirmed that Iran and its nuclear programme would be key discussion points. He praised the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying they had permanently set back Tehran’s atomic ambitions, though he acknowledged Iran could resume efforts elsewhere. (ANI)
