The United States and Iran remain in contact over the resumption of talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but no formal negotiations are planned, officials from both sides said on June 26.
Washington is "in close communication" with Iran and its intermediaries, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state broadcaster IRIB that diplomacy is ongoing and contacts are occurring through various channels.
Araqchi added that that no “agreement, arrangement, or conversation has been made to start new negotiations."
Iran is currently evaluating what is best for our national interests, Araqchi said, adding that "speculation" that Tehran would come to the table "should not be taken seriously."
President Donald Trump, speaking at the NATO summit in The Hague on June 25, said that Washington would hold discussions with Tehran next week.
A sixth round of US-Iran discussions in Oman that was scheduled for June 15 was called off after Israeli forces launched strikes on Iranian targets on June 13.
In the comments to IRIB, Araqchi confirmed that attacks last weekend by US forces had caused "significant" damage to Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
Araqchi's comments came as Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, on June 26 approved parliament's move to suspend Tehran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The law, which was approved by lawmakers in a 221-0 vote a day earlier, will ultimately be decided upon by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).
The SNSC is technically led by the president, but like all key state institutions, it answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The plan to require the government to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency was not found to be contrary to Islamic law and the constitution after review by members of the Guardian Council," Hadi Tahan Nazif, a spokesman for the council, said in a post on X.
Israel launched its June 13 attack on key Iranian nuclear and military sites as well as residential areas in a war that claimed scores of civilian lives on both sides. On June 21, the United States struck three nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
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The 12-day conflict came to an end in a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Iran brokered by the United States on June 24.
Suspending cooperation with the IAEA means Iran will halt inspections, reporting, and oversight activities under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Ahead of the vote by lawmakers, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for what he said was the UN nuclear watchdog’s failure to “even pretend to condemn attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities” and accused it of “putting its international credibility for up for sale.”
As per protocol, Qalibaf announced that he had instructed the government to implement the measure following its approval by the Guardian Council.
The bill says the suspension can be lifted if the safety of Iranian nuclear sites and scientists is guaranteed and if Tehran’s right to enrich uranium domestically is assured. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and that it does not seek to weaponize it.
Tehran has long accused the IAEA of bias and working with Western powers and Israel against Iran.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has for years complained about what he describes as Iran’s lack of cooperation with the agency over investigations into old but undeclared nuclear sites.
“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the agency until the security of nuclear facilities is guaranteed, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program will advance at a faster pace,” Qalibaf said in comments that were followed by lawmakers chanting “death to” America and Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the "worst-case scenario" would be if Tehran now exits the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Macron told reporters in Brussels after an EU summit that in a bid to maintain the treaty he would speak in the coming days to the five members of the UN Security Council.
Those talks already kicked off with a call to the White House with on June 26 in which he informed President Donald Trump of contacts Paris had with Tehran in "the last few days and hours."
"Our hope is that there will be a real convergence of views," Macron said, adding that the aim was "that there should be no resumption" of nuclear buildup by Iran.
Iran ratified the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) in 1970, committing it to declare its nuclear material to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
