Iran's Araghchi Says US Talks Took Place Under Threat Of Attack As Washington Intensifies Strikes

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff were held under the constant threat of military attack, describing the atmosphere surrounding the discussions as highly hostile.

Speaking about the indirect contacts, Araghchi said he had asked Witkoff whether he had ever negotiated while facing the possibility of being attacked.

"I asked Witkoff, have you ever been in a meeting where there was a chance of being BOMBED at any moment?"

It was not immediately clear which round of talks or location Araghchi was referring to.

Araghchi and Witkoff have remained in intermittent contact since beginning communications during last year's nuclear talks, with exchanges reportedly continuing through the February conflict. Tehran, however, has maintained that the contacts do not constitute formal negotiations.

Rejecting suggestions that Iran had been intimidated by U.S. pressure, Araghchi said, "This isn't Venezuela where you take 1 person and everyone else gets scared and backs down."

He also accused Israel and the United States of misjudging Iran's response to the conflict.

"The Zionist regime thought that with a short attack, they could destroy everything," Araghchi said.

"When that didn't happen… they were forced to stop the war."

Meanwhile, Major General Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command, pledged the armed forces' allegiance to the country's new Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, and vowed to strengthen cooperation between the military, government and the public.

Addressing what he called the "oath-breaking American enemy," Abdollahi warned that "any bullying, expansionism and savagery will be met with a decisive and devastating response from the faithful, brave and mighty fighters of the Armed Forces, and we will impose costs on them heavier than those of the second and third imposed wars."

He accused the United States of attempting to create divisions within Iran after suffering setbacks on the battlefield.

"The defeat of the Great Satan, criminal America, depends on internal cohesion, and seriously confronting this satanic plot to disappoint the enemy is a necessary and urgent duty for all," he said.

His remarks came as the United States carried out an eighth consecutive night of strikes on Iranian targets after earlier announcing that two U.S. service members had been killed in Jordan.

U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes targeted Iranian coastal surveillance and air defence facilities to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan."

The escalating exchanges have raised concerns of a renewed full-scale conflict after an interim ceasefire broke down and tensions intensified over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Israeli officials also said the country was preparing to receive additional U.S. aerial refuelling aircraft ahead of a possible expansion of American military operations against Iran.

(inputs from Reuters, Hindustan Times)