Iran’s president insists Tehran ‘not after nuclear bomb,’ invites US investors
Masoud Pezeshkian urges ‘American investors: Come and invest,’ marking new approach ahead of nuclear talks with US; Russia says world ‘tired of threats’ against Iran
Iran’s president insisted Wednesday that his nation is “not after a nuclear bomb” and dangled the prospect of direct American investment in the Islamic Republic if the countries can reach a nuclear deal.
The comments came in advance of expected talks in Oman on Saturday over Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program, on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s return to office, and his repeated threats to strike Iran, if necessary, to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon.
“We are not after a nuclear bomb,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech in Tehran. “You [in the West] have verified it 100 times. Do it 1,000 times again.”
Iran, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, has ramped up its enrichment of uranium up to 60 percent purity, which has no application beyond nuclear weapons, and has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities.
Pezeshkian also said that “his excellency has no opposition to investment by American investors in Iran,” referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “American investors: Come and invest.”
The comments represented a departure from Iran’s stance after its first deal with world powers in 2015, in which Tehran sought to buy American airplanes but in effect barred US companies from coming into the country.
Such a business proposal could draw the interest of Trump, who withdrew America from the 2015 deal in his first term and now seeks a new agreement with Iran.
Pezeshkian, who campaigned on a platform of outreach to the West during his election last year, also added that Saturday’s expected talks in Oman between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff would be conducted “indirectly.”
The talks were announced on Monday by Trump, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military action if it does not agree to a deal. Trump has said the talks would be direct negotiations — something Tehran hasn’t ruled out after the first round of discussions.
Iran is approaching the weekend talks over its nuclear program warily, with little confidence in progress and deep suspicions about US intentions, Iranian officials told Reuters on Tuesday.
Iran been suspicious of business links to US
In 2015, Khamenei opposed importing American consumer goods into Iran.
“We neither allow economic influence, nor political influence and presence as well as cultural influence by Americans in our country,” he said then. “We will confront it by all means, we will not allow.”
But after Trump’s comments on the talks went public, Iran’s ailing economy showed new signs of life. Its rial currency, which hit a record low of over 1 million rials to the dollar, rebounded Tuesday to 990,000 rials.
Iran’s economy has been severely affected by international sanctions, particularly after Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. At the time of the 2015 deal, which saw Iran drastically limit its enrichment and stockpiling of uranium in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar.
There also appeared to be a direct influence from the top on how hardline media reported the upcoming talks Wednesday, as there was no criticism of the negotiations whatsoever — something highly unusual in Iran’s fractious internal politics.
“At first, Iran may unilaterally accept a decrease in enrichment. This should not be considered a withdrawal,” the hardline newspaper Javan, believed to be close to the country’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in an editorial.
Pezeshkian himself spoke at an event marking Iran’s National Nuclear Technology Day, which in the past had seen Tehran show off advances in centrifuge technology that worried the West. This year it focused on medical applications and other projects.
However, not everyone agreed with the US outreach. A protest in Tehran on Wednesday drew hundreds of people and saw demonstrators burn an effigy of the US flag, chanting both “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Fake coffins for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sat to one side as protesters also carried signs decrying the death of civilians in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
“Negotiations with whom? With a murderer? With an occupier?” asked one woman holding a “Death to Israel” placard who declined to give her name at the protest for fear of reprisal. “We should keep these in mind. They always show their true nature.”
Kremlin: World getting tired of threats against Iran
Russia said on Wednesday that the world was getting tired of endless threats against Iran and that bombing the Islamic Republic would not bring peace, cautioning that Tehran was already taking preventative measures.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was aware of the “quite harsh rhetoric” and that Tehran was taking preventative measures, and suggested the focus should be on contacts rather than confrontation.
“Indeed, the world is growing tired of the endless threats against Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said when asked by Reuters to clarify Russia’s approach. “There is a growing understanding that bombing cannot pave the way to peace.”
Moscow has bought weapons from Iran for the war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year. Iranian officials, however, say that Moscow often talks tough but is wary of getting dragged into a major war in the Middle East. The partnership deal signed between Iran and Russia did not include a mutual defense clause.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has kept on good terms with Khamenei, especially since both Russia and Iran are cast as enemies by the West. But Moscow is keen not to trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
Russia, Zakharova said, wants “effective negotiable solutions” that would both reduce Western suspicions about Iran’s uranium enrichment program and restore trust while ensuring a balance of interests — and avoid a crisis.
“Tehran cannot be held responsible for the consequences of the illegal actions of those who, through their shortsightedness and erroneous forecasting, undermined agreements,” Zakharova said.
The Times of Israel Community.