"Not Like We Will Die...": Iran's Pushback As US Tightens Grip On Nuclear Talks

As the fifth round of nuclear talks with the United States concluded over the weekend, Iran has declared that it is capable to survive even if the negotiations fails - an option that is non-existent from Donald Trump's perspective.

President Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran that should talks fail, and a deal acceptable to Washington not be reached, the consequences will be dire for Iran. The US President has threatened a combination of crippling economic sanctions and bombings across Iran's strategic facilities in order to wipe out its nuclear ambitions forever.

'IRAN WILL SURVIVE'

Amid uncertainty over the outcome of the ongoing negotiations, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has downplayed President Trump's threats, saying, "It's not like we (Iran) will die of hunger if they refuse to negotiate with us or impose sanctions on us", adding that "We will find a way to survive."

The remarks from the Iranian President indicates that the talks - five rounds so far - have not been going as desired. Even after the fourth round of talks, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had said the terms being set by the United States are "unacceptable" to Iran.

Khamenei, who has increasingly doubted that a new nuclear deal with the US will see the light of day, had called the US' demands of Tehran ending all uranium enrichment as "excessive and outrageous". The utterly frustrated supreme leader also described the US demands as "nonsense".

TALKS GOING GREAT, SAYS TRUMP

Surprisingly, Donald Trump, who often makes claims about talks and negotiations that are later denied by his counterparts or the nations they represent, said that the talks between Washington and Tehran this weekend were "very good" - quite the opposite of what the remarks by his Iranian counterpart suggests.

Donald Trump's administration wants Iran to curb - rather scale down - its uranium enrichment programme significantly, to levels that restrict Tehran to only the civilian use of nuclear energy. Ambitions for the Gulf nation to possess nuclear weapons someday is simply not an option, Washington has said.

THE ENRICHMENT CALCULATION

Steve Witkoff, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East has said that for civilian purposes, 3.67 per cent uranium enrichment is enough. Tehran has already gone far beyond that. Enrichment levels of uranium in Iran are already up to 60 per cent - a short, technical step away from reaching weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.

"This cannot be allowed," Mr Witkoff had said in April, while Donald Trump had fully backed him at the time, saying, "Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. These are radicalised people, and they cannot have a nuclear weapon."

'ONLY CIVILIAN USE, BUT...'

On its part, Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is exclusively for civilian purposes. However, has rejected demands to curb its uranium enrichment programme, casting a shadow on its intentions.

Immediately after the latest round of talks, reports emerged indicating a three-year pause to Tehran's ongoing enrichment programme. Reacting to this, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei denied any such move and said that "Iran will never accept" a proposal of this nature.

US ARMED FORCES AWAITING ORDERS

Rejecting the reports of a possible interim deal till a final deal is achieved, Mr Baghaei said these reports are false. "Iran is waiting for further details from mediator Oman regarding the timing of the sixth round of talks," he said, adding that "If there is goodwill from the American side, we are also optimistic, but if negotiations are aimed at curbing Iran's rights then talks will get nowhere."

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has kept two aircraft carrier fleets - USS Carl Vinson and USS Harry S Truman operationally ready and awaiting orders in the Arabian Sea. The US President has also keep a fleet of six B2 Stealth bombers lined up in its Indian Ocean base at Diego Garcia.