Iran’s top diplomat says there are no plans yet for talks with US

Iran’s foreign minister announced on Friday that his country is ready for dialogue to resolve tensions but that there are no concrete plans for talks with the US, even as Tehran faces the threat of military action in response to the killing of peaceful demonstrators and possible mass executions.

Abbas Araghchi spoke in Istanbul where he arrived earlier in the day for talks with Turkish officials. Ankara has been working to reduce tensions in the wider region following threats of a possible US military strike against Iran.

Later on Friday, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against Iran’s interior minister, accusing Eskandar Momeni of repressing nationwide protests that have challenged Tehran’s theocratic government.

The penalties are the latest by the United States and the European Union targeting high-ranking officials over the crackdown.

The administration says Mr Momeni has overseen Iran’s law enforcement forces that are responsible for the deaths of thousands of peaceful protesters.

Also Friday, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets imposed sanctions on Babak Morteza Zanjani, an Iranian investor who is accused of embezzling billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue for the benefit of the Iranian government.

Two digital asset exchanges linked to Mr Zanjani that have processed large volumes of funds were also penalised.

Iran has cracked down on the nationwide protests, which began as demonstrations against the country’s economic woes but broadened into a challenge to the Islamic Republic’s theocracy. Activists say the crackdown has killed at least 6,479 people.

The US military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Middle East but it remains unclear whether President Donald Trump will decide to use force.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered during a telephone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier on Friday to act as a “facilitator” between Iran and the US, according to his office.

Mr Araghchi told reporters during a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan that Iran has no plans to “meet with the Americans”.

“We are ready for fair and equitable negotiations,” he said. “For such negotiations, arrangements must first be made, both regarding the form of the talks and the location of the talks, and about the topic of the talks.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, just as it is ready for negotiations, it is also ready for war,” Mr Araghchi added.

Turkey opposes a military intervention against Iran, warning such an action would lead to regional instability.

“We are against resorting to military options to solve problems, and we do not believe that this will be very effective,” Mr Fidan said. “We advocate for negotiation and diplomacy.”

Mr Araghchi’s visit came a day after the European United agreed to list Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a “terrorist organisation” over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protesters.

In retaliation, Iran is considering designating the militaries of EU countries as “terrorist entities”, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Friday.

Iran’s parliament is expected to pass the law on Sunday, he wrote on X. The European Union did not immediately comment.

Mr Araghchi on Wednesday posted on X that Iran’s military is prepared “with their fingers on the trigger” to respond to any attack, whether by land, air and sea.

He later, in another post on X, indirectly criticised the EU move against the Guard, saying that “several countries are presently attempting to avert the eruption of all-out war in our region. None of them are European”.