Iran presses the IAEA on Trump’s ‘bombing’ threat, reaffirms no nukes pursuit

Araqchi was speaking on the phone with the secretary general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi.

He emphasized that given the recurrence of such threats, the Islamic Republic will take every necessary measure to protect its nuclear program.

Grossi, for his part, said he would talk with other parties to create a suitable atmosphere to help resolve existing issues. He also asked to visit Iran, which Araqchi accepted.

Trump said on Sunday that he would order military strikes against Iran if Tehran did not strike a new deal with Washington on its nuclear program. “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” he said in an interview with NBC News.

Iran has warned to respond swiftly and decisively to any act of aggression on its soil.

Reacting to Trump’s threat, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that even though Iran doesn’t seek nuclear weapons, any strike on the country by the United States or Israel on that false pretext would force the country to develop atomic bombs for defensive purposes.

“If America or Israel bomb Iran under the nuclear pretext, Iran will be compelled to move toward producing an atomic bomb,” Ali Larijani said during a televised interview on Monday.

Araqchi, however, once again clarified Tehran’s long-standing position, which is based on a religious decree (fatwa) by Ayatollah Khamenei prohibiting the development, possession, and use of nuclear weapons, reaffirming that the country will never produce or acquire any atomic bombs under any circumstances.

He said in an X post on Tuesday that ten years after signing the Iran deal and seven years after the U.S. unilaterally walked away from it under Trump’s first term, “there is not ONE SHRED OF PROOF that Iran has violated this commitment.”

Meanwhile, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked on Tuesday to comment on Trump’s threat, to which he said, “We urge everyone to avoid inflammatory rhetoric.”

“I think the UN Charter is very clear in encouraging Member States to settle all disputes through diplomatic means,” he said in response to the question asked by IRNA’s correspondent.

On March 12, Trump sent a letter to Iran via an emissary from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), requesting that negotiations be opened into a deal that he says would stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon. This is while, in 2018, he pulled out of a multinational nuclear deal with Iran. On February 4, the U.S. president signed a presidential memorandum to restore a hostile policy from his first term of “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic.

Iran, which has relayed its response to the U.S. president’s letter via Oman, has ruled out direct negotiations with the United States as long as the “maximum pressure” policy and the military threats are in place.

“Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work. BUT, it should be clear to all that there is—by definition—no such thing as a ‘military option’ let alone a ‘military solution,’” Araqchi said in his X post.