ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran has rejected US demands for a two-decade suspension of its nuclear enrichment program, a director of an Iranian think tank told Rudaw on Tuesday, describing the terms as “excessive” and pointing to Tehran’s readiness to sustain a long-term "war of wills" over what it says are its nuclear rights and maritime sovereignty.
Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh, director of Iran’s Diplomatic House, told Rudaw that the holdup in the Pakistan-mediated Iran-US talks stems from “excessive demands” by Washington - namely, “a 20-year suspension” of Iran’s enrichment program and the removal of its enriched uranium, both of which he described as Tehran’s rights.
“Iran is not accepting, because it wants to defend the rights it is entitled to,” he said.
The US and Israel launched a wide-scale air campaign against Iran on February 28, targeting more than 17,000 sites across the country over six weeks of hostilities. In response, Tehran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting purported US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - as well as launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.
Washington and Tehran agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8, halting the fighting to allow space for talks. While the first round of discussions ended without a final agreement on April 11, Islamabad has in recent weeks stepped up efforts to facilitate a second round of negotiations between American and Iranian officials, though these efforts have yet to yield tangible results.
In parallel with the talks, Iran and the US have engaged in tit-for-tat maritime restrictions. In the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran has tightened controls on shipping, while Washington has enforced naval measures targeting vessels linked to Iranian ports.
Gholamzadeh, who previously served as editor-in-chief of the semi-official Mehr News Agency, told Rudaw that Tehran remains defiant in the blockade standoff, noting that it holds a geographic advantage over the US Navy.
“The Americans are not capable of blockading Iran and closing the Strait forever. So it is more, let’s say, a war of wills and resilience,” he said, adding that while exports have slowed, Iranian vessels continue to reach their destinations and the domestic economy remains supported by local production.
Following is the full transcript of the interview with the Director of Iran’s Diplomatic House, Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh.
Rudaw: Why is Iran not responding to US requests regarding enriched uranium?
Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh: You know, the problem is that the Americans are making excessive demands. They are asking for a very long suspension of the Iranian enrichment program and they want to remove the enriched uranium of Iran, both of which are the rights that the NPT and the IEA have given a country which is signatory to its treaties.
So as a member to the NPT, Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and has the right to enrich uranium and keep the stockpiles of enriched uranium on even the 60 percent level is possible for a member country.
So Iran is defending its rights, and the Americans, on the other side, want to impose something on Iran, and that's something that Iran would not accept. Even during the Geneva talks before the current war, Iran had suggested that it could accept three to five years of suspension because it needs time to actually recover all its activities, which were attacked last June. But the Americans, at that time, were asking for 10 years of suspension.
And now in Islamabad, not only did they not reduce the time, they increased it actually to 20 years of suspension. So that shows that the Americans either do not understand the reality on the ground, or they do not want an agreement. So they are actually offering it at such a high price that no one would accept that sale and would not accept their suggestion to accept that.
So that's why Iran isn't accepting, because Iran wants to defend its rights that it is entitled to.
During the agreement with the 5+1 countries under former US President Barack Obama, some of Iran’s enriched uranium was transferred to Russia. Is Iran now willing to send its uranium to Russia again?
You know, because at that time, the strike power was given out of the country, and they were supposed to return to provide Iran with the actual fuel needed for the medical infrastructure in Tehran, and they did not do that. Or they were supposed to buy the enriched uranium from Iran, and they did not pay for that.
So it was actually the IAEA and the Western countries, American and Europeans, that prevented the payment to be made and prevented the actual fuel for the Tehran facility to be provided to Iran. Other than Iran had this experience of lack of commitment from the IAEA and other countries. So we cannot trust them.
It happened in the past as well, when Turkey and Brazil were intermediaries. At that time, the same story happened. So based on experience, Iran is not seeing a bright future and bright perspective in giving up its enriched uranium to go out of the country and there would be nothing in return for that and it would be some asset that Iran would lose very easily. And of course, Iran would not accept it.
Did Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discuss the country’s enriched uranium during his recent visit to Russia?
We don't have any confirmed information about the talks between the two sides. But I would expect them to have such discussions about the conflict, about the war, about the enrichment and nuclear program. Naturally, they would speak about that.
But about transferring the enriched uranium to that country, I doubt so. Because one of the red lines for the negotiating team for the foreign ministry, [for Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher] Ghalibaf, and all the members that are part of the negotiating team, is that they are not allowed to discuss nuclear issues. Because we had already discussed it several times and for the past few times, they attacked Iran in the middle of the talks.
So the nuclear issue is not something that the team is permitted to discuss and for that, I don't think that you would have discussed very serious issues with [the Russian President] Mr. Vladimir Putin about the nuclear program.
US President Donald Trump said that if Iran wants to negotiate, they can call the US. Will Iran call Trump?
In order to read President Trump correctly, you should reverse whatever he says. When he said that Iran is eager to call me, it means that I am eager to call Iran. Iran, please call me. When he said that Iran is asking for an agreement or for negotiations, it means that I am asking [for negotiations], but I don't want to say that clearly. So he is actually beating around the bush like this.
So no, Iran has said that it is ready for war and if the United States accepts Iran's terms, then it would discuss the procedure for acceptance of those terms. But Iran is not going to give up its rights or give up its conditions, its red lines and it is ready to discuss when Americans are ready to accept. Otherwise, Iran does not have an interest in talking to a person like President Trump and the American administration.
Is Iran currently selling any oil?
Yes, of course, it has. The export is happening. Of course, it is less than the normal situation because of taking care of the current situation. I'm not updated with the numbers, actually, but it is clear that Iran is producing and exporting oil. Half of the production of Iranian oil is used domestically, and half of it is exported.
So the export part is less than usual but it doesn't mean that it has been zero, and the blockade has stopped everything. Many vessels have gone through the blockade, and they have been successful in reaching the destination. There have been a handful of vessels seized by the Americans.
But Iran is trying to put pressure on to work politically, and if necessary, militarily, to release those vessels or in return, Iran will seize some other ships in the region. But the rest of them, tens of Iranian vessels and warfighters have already been captured.
If the US does not lift its blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, is Iran unwilling to re-enter negotiations with the US?
Negotiation is possible for ending the war. For the blockade, the removal of the blockade, Iran is not going to discuss everything because the point is that if Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz, it has a geographical reality on the ground, based on which it is imposing that blockade on the Strait.
But the Americans do not have that, and they cannot keep their navies and their vessels 24/7 throughout the years in the ocean in order to seize Iranian vessels to blockade Iran, that is impossible. Especially right now that we are seeing that the American foreign naval forces set fire to the navies or punch the toilets and those are problems that they need in order to not to be deployed to the combat mission.
With that situation, Americans are not capable of blockading Iran, blocking the Strait forever. So it is more, let's say, a war of wills and a war of resilience. They are hopeful that it would stop Iranian oil production, which it is not. They are thinking, rightfully, that if Iran does not export oil, then its oil would stop working and then it would expire. But it is not like that because of the nature of the here in Iran.
There is no problem if Iran does not produce oil. Even if they are not producing oil, it would not destroy the infrastructure and the oil facilities. So Iran does not have any problem with that and it is a matter of time. So Americans are hoping that in a couple of months they can stop Iran.
The point is that Iran has prepared itself for so long and because of geography, Iran has more resilience because it is at home. It is a player's home and Iran has everything it needs here, but the Americans are thousands of miles away from the country and they need to deploy everything. It takes time. It takes a lot of money and budget and more important than that, it needs a lot of human resources, which forces those who are not happy with the war going on here.
And they are not happy with the deployment here for so long. So when you consider all the odds, the odds are in favor of Iran for being more resilient toward the blockade, rather than the Americans and the global economy.
The Iran war has now stopped, and there is a ceasefire, but Iran continues to target camps of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region, even though those groups did not take part in the war, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has requested the attacks be stopped. When will Iran halt these attacks?
Those operations are to secure the borders. Even before the war, there were some cases that Iran attacked the terrorist groups in those lands and during the war and after that, Iran did the same things. And we clearly have heard from President Trump that he admitted that they have armed terrorist groups in the Kurdistan area, Kurdistan Region.
So it is very clear that Iran would defend its own security and would be very sensitive about that. And I'm quite sure that the Kurdistan Region officials and Iraqi officials are both supporting security in this region. They have already set a red line to the Americans in order to wage a war there and they have not accepted American calls to attack Iran. So they have been acting responsibly and respectfully and that's what Iran considers very highly.
But it is defending itself against the terrorist groups as well. Iran does not consider the terrorist groups as the Kurdish officials or Kurdistan rulers. Of course, Iran hopes that the Kurdistan region officials would actually help fight against terrorism and would help improve the security of the borders of the two sides. So it is not connected to war. It is more about the security of the borders.