US President Donald Trump has said he is not negotiating with Iran, a dramatic change from last week when he announced that talks with Tehran were inevitable despite Iran denying any such plans.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote on 30 June that he was “not offering Iran anything… or even talking to them since we have completely destroyed their nuclear facilities.”
On 22 June, the United States bombed three key Iranian nuclear sites, including the heavily fortified underground facility at Fordow.
Trump appeared to be responding to comments by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who questioned Trump’s previous statements that China could resume buying oil from Iran after a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran on 24 June.
“Either President Trump doesn’t know that his own administration has imposed crippling sanctions on Iranian oil, or he doesn’t care that our adversaries are violating our own sanctions policies. I don’t know which is more troubling,” Coons wrote on X.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bakaei on 30 June accused the Trump administration of making a habit of changing positions.
“These constant changes and mixed signals that have become a regular pattern of US behaviour over the past three to four months are simply not something we can rely on,” he said at his weekly press briefing.
The extent of damage to Iran’s nuclear programme during the 12-day war with Israel remains unclear. Iran says its nuclear facilities were badly damaged but has vowed to continue its programme, which it considers peaceful.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Raphael Grossi said last week that Iran could restore uranium enrichment “in a matter of months”.
“Frankly, you can’t say it’s all gone and there’s nothing there,” he said.
Before the recent military escalation, Tehran and Washington had been negotiating a return to the agreement, but to no avail. Amid rising tensions, Iran has limited inspections and begun producing near weapons-grade uranium.