Iran’s response to President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union was simple. The Iranian International Ministry accused Mr. Trump of repeating “large lies” in regards to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and the dying toll from its crackdown to finish anti-government protests in January.
As the 2 international locations put together for an additional spherical of negotiations over Iran’s contested uranium enrichment program — with the specter of U.S. army motion looming over the talks — Iranian officers dismissed Mr. Trump’s claims that they’re working to develop a nuclear weapon, accusing him of making an attempt to “repeat a lie usually sufficient till it turns into the reality.”
What did Trump say about Iran in his State of the Union?
Throughout his tackle on Tuesday night time, Mr. Trump repeated his declare that the U.S. “obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program” with strikes in June — a declare the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog company, the IAEA, has not too long ago forged doubt on.
“They had been warned to make no future makes an attempt to rebuild their weapons program, and particularly nuclear weapons, but they proceed,” Mr. Trump mentioned, including: “They’re beginning it throughout. We wiped it out and so they wish to begin it yet again and are at this second once more pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
The president repeated his vow that he would by no means permit Iran to construct a nuclear weapon.
Satellite tv for pc photographs from late January have proven roofs constructed over two of Iran’s nuclear services that had been broken by the U.S. strikes final summer time, in Natanz and Isfahan, probably indicating efforts by Iran to salvage any remaining supplies, however the nature of any new work at these websites has not been confirmed.
Planet Labs PBC by way of AP
The president additionally repeated his assertion that Iranian safety forces killed 32,000 individuals with their crackdown to quash latest protests in opposition to the regime. That could be a far larger dying toll than has beforehand been reported, and magnitudes higher than officers in Tehran have admitted to publicly.
Iran’s response to Mr. Trump’s State of the Union claims
“Skilled liars are masters at creating the phantasm of fact,” a spokesperson for Iran’s International Ministry mentioned in an announcement shared Wednesday on social media.
“‘Repeat a lie usually sufficient till it turns into the reality,’ a propaganda maxim coined by Nazi Joseph Goebbels, is now being systematically employed by the US administration and its conflict profiteers,” the assertion mentioned, accusing Mr. Trump and his allies within the Israeli authorities of propagating “large lies” about Iran’s nuclear program, in addition to its ballistic missiles and the variety of individuals killed throughout the January protests.
With the subsequent spherical of talks on the nuclear program on account of get underway, and Mr. Trump’s risk to strike Iran if no deal is reached nonetheless looming, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, informed lawmakers on Wednesday that whereas the nation remained “prepared for dignified diplomacy,” it was additionally “prepared for a protection that may make the aggressor remorse their actions.”
“Should you resolve to repeat previous experiences by deception, lies, flawed evaluation, and false info, and launch an assault within the midst of negotiations, you’ll undoubtedly style the sturdy punch of the Iranian individuals and the nation’s defensive forces,” Ghalibaf mentioned.
What are the possibilities of a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal to avert conflict?
“We’ve a historic alternative to strike an unprecedented settlement that addresses mutual considerations and achieves mutual pursuits,” Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned in a social media put up simply hours earlier than Mr. Trump delivered his speech, including {that a} deal was “inside attain, however provided that diplomacy is given precedence.”
Whereas Mr. Trump claimed in his remarks that Iran had by no means dominated out constructing a nuclear weapon, Araghchi truly vowed not lengthy earlier than the U.S. chief spoke that Iran would “on no account ever develop a nuclear weapon.”
Araghchi insisted, nonetheless, on the nation’s proper to “harness dividends of peaceable nuclear know-how” — hinting at a possible main sticking level within the negotiations with the U.S.
He didn’t reiterate the demand in his State of the Union tackle on Tuesday, however Mr. Trump has beforehand urged that any new nuclear take care of Iran would possibly want to incorporate a full abandonment of all home enrichment, and that’s one thing Tehran, as Araghchi alluded to in his remarks, has by no means accepted.
Araghchi mentioned Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that he could not predict whether or not President Trump intends to strike Iran, “however one reality is that in the event that they wish to discover a decision for Iran’s peaceable nuclear program, the one approach is diplomacy.”
“I imagine that also there’s a good probability to have a diplomatic answer, which relies on a win-win recreation, and answer is at our attain,” Araghchi informed Brennan.
However he added that “enrichment is our proper.”
“We’re a member of NPT [nuclear non-proliferation treaty] and we’ve each proper to take pleasure in a peaceable nuclear vitality, together with enrichment. How we use this? This proper is one thing you understand associated to us, solely the enrichment is a delicate a part of our negotiation. The American staff learn about, they know our place, we all know their place, and we’ve already exchanged our considerations, and I feel an answer is achievable, however I am not going to barter by media.”
“We try to make it one thing which consists of parts which might accommodate either side’ considerations and pursuits, and we’re engaged on these parts,” Araghchi mentioned of the nuclear talks set to renew Thursday in Geneva, including that he believed “we will work on these parts and put together a great textual content and are available to a quick deal.”
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty 
However Araghchi additionally reiterated the warnings from his nation that if Mr. Trump does order new strikes on Iran, U.S. bases within the area could be focused in any retaliation.
“If the U.S. assaults us, then we’ve each proper to defend ourselves. If the U.S. assaults us that is an act of aggression. What we do in response is the act of self-defense. So, and it’s justifiable and legit. So, our missiles can’t hit the American soil, so clearly we’ve to do one thing else — we’ve to hit, you understand, the People base within the area.”
To Sanam Vakil, director of the Center East and North Africa Program on the Chatham Home assume tank in London, the 2 sides nonetheless seem like too far aside. She informed CBS Information on Wednesday that, in her view, a army conflict is inevitable, and shortly.
“I feel it is imminent, I imply it is a matter of days. Battle appears inevitable to me as a result of President Trump has been not simply assembling an enormous arsenal to strike Iran, but in addition as a result of President Trump has been clearly signaling that he’s in search of the submission of the Islamic Republic to phrases and circumstances that at the moment the leaders in Iran do not seem prepared to make.”
“The primary factor that Iran can provide is a dedication to not enrich uranium above a sure grade inside Iran for a lot of years,” mentioned Vakil. “It is worthwhile mentioning that Iran is already not enriching uranium and hasn’t been because the June conflict final summer time when the US pummeled Iran’s nuclear services and buried its enrichment program. So that’s already de facto occurring, and Iran can provide that concession to President Trump.”
“However what Iran concurrently seeks is an affirmation of its nuclear rights as a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty,” Vakil mentioned. “Iran does not wish to be singled out. Iran desires to be handled like all the opposite signatories. And so what it’s on the lookout for is a capability to counterpoint uranium at very low ranges for medical functions. And that might be how they compromise on this precept.”
