"Does not scare us": Iran on US military deployment in the region

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday ruled out Tehran ever giving up uranium enrichment in its negotiations with Washington, insisting it will not be intimidated by the threat of war with the United States. Araghchi told a forum in Tehran attended by AFP that Iran had little trust in Washington and doubted that the US side was taking renewed negotiations seriously. He later said Iran was consulting with its "strategic partners" China and Russia about the talks. "Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up, even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behaviour," Araghchi said at the forum. "Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," he added, referring to the arrival of an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Arabian Sea.

The United States and Iran reopened negotiations on Friday in Oman for the first time since Israel's 12-day war with the Islamic republic in June of last year, which the US briefly joined. Iran is seeking to have US economic sanctions on the country lifted, in exchange for what Araghchi said at the forum could be "a series of confidence-building measures concerning the nuclear programme".

Western countries and Israel, thought to be the Middle East's only country with nuclear weapons, say Iran is seeking to acquire an atomic bomb, which the Islamic republic denies. "They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not looking for one. Our atomic bomb is the power to say 'no' to the great powers," Araghchi said. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday denounced "the attempt by the most extreme regime in the world to obtain the most dangerous weapon in the world", calling it "a clear danger to peace". The US and Israel additionally want the negotiations to go beyond the nuclear issue and include Iran's ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region, issues Iran refuses to include in the talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday -- insists these two components be included in any negotiation, his office said Saturday.