The senior Iranian official, interviewed by CGTN on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, shared the following excerpts:
Iran joined the SCO in 2023. What role does the organization play in the region and international community? What are Iran’s plans to cooperate with other members within the SCO framework?
Iran’s FM: Thank you for the interview. First, as you mentioned, Iran has joined the organization as a full member. We attach great importance to the organization and value its attempts to secure a deserved status for Global South countries in the international arena. At the same time, we are witnessing that many other nations want to join the organization, which is a positive sign. We truly intend to move forward on this path and address the security, economic, and even cultural issues of the member states in a way that differs from the Western approach.
What has Iran done to prepare for the upcoming SCO heads-of-state meeting and its achievements? What are your expectations from the event?
We thank the Secretary of the organization and all member countries for condemning the Zionist regime’s and the U.S.’s acts of aggression against Iran, particularly against its nuclear facilities.
The attack was a clear violation of international law and the UN Charter, but an attack on nuclear facilities is an even greater and unforgivable violation. Such attacks are totally forbidden because they can have disastrous environmental consequences for humanity. We praise the SCO members, particularly China, for taking a strong and supportive stance, expressing unity with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and sympathizing with Iranians—especially women and children—who lost their lives in these attacks.
Therefore, we expect full political support for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the upcoming meeting.
“We are prepared for the violation of the ceasefire,” said Araghchi. He added, “This is not a conflict; it is an act of aggression—an unprovoked aggression by Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran. We had no option but to exercise our right to self-defense. Therefore, we defended our country. We stood bravely and forced the aggressors to halt their invasions and to request a truce, which we accepted. Of course, the ceasefire is fragile, and the reasons are clear: no ceasefire by that regime is reliable because it has a bad reputation in this regard. So we remain vigilant and ready to act if the ceasefire is broken. However, this is not what we want—not from the very beginning. We never wanted this war, but we were fully prepared for it. We do not want the war to continue, but again we repeat: we are fully prepared for it.”
You recently said that you need more time to decide about resuming nuclear negotiations with the U.S. What exactly must Iran investigate?
If we are not yet convinced, it is because we need to witness the real will of the other party—a will to reach a win-win resolution. Our nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, and we are 100 percent confident in that. We have no problem sharing this certainty with others, but this is only possible through negotiation. We did it in 2015. We negotiated with the 5+1 countries, reached a deal, and finalized it. If you remember, the world celebrated the deal as a major diplomatic achievement, and we are still committed to it. But the United States suddenly decided to exit the deal—a very disappointing decision. Everything we are witnessing now is the outcome of that decision.
Is it possible to return to a negotiated agreement?
In my view, yes—but as I said, this requires a serious and genuine will from the other side. The military option must be put aside, and we must move forward and achieve a resolution through negotiation. I believe the recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities have proved that there is no military solution to address Iran’s nuclear issue. Only a diplomatic and negotiated resolution can be effective, and it can be realized when military ambitions are abandoned and the damages inflicted on us are compensated. We are then ready to participate in the negotiations.
