‘They can keep dreaming’: Tehran draws line on US deal

Shafaq News/ Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, on Sunday, that Tehran remains open to diplomacy and negotiations, but only through indirect channels — firmly rejecting the possibility of any agreement with Washington similar to the 2003 Libya deal.

“There have been no direct negotiations with the US so far,” Araghchi said following a meeting of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, according to the legislature’s news agency Khaneh Mellat.

“We are a nation of diplomacy and negotiation, but only indirectly,” he added. Araghchi’s comments come amid ongoing speculation over backchannel talks to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington.

In response to recent remarks by a US senator suggesting that the Trump administration might seek a Libya-style disarmament agreement with Iran, Araghchi dismissed the idea outright. “They can keep dreaming. Such a deal is absolutely out of the question,” he told lawmakers.

In 2003, Libya agreed to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs following secret negotiations with the United States and the United Kingdom. The deal included full disclosure of nuclear and chemical weapons activities, as well as Libya’s accession to key international nonproliferation treaties.

Addressing reports that French President Emmanuel Macron had held a high-level security meeting on Iran, Araghchi confirmed it was an analytical and evaluative session. However, he warned, “Every state has the right to assessment, but if they act against Iran, we will consider them complicit in any hostile move.”