October 1, 2026
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran's nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks “big lies” and saying negotiations may yield an agreement through “honorable diplomacy.”
The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday's talks come as the U.S. has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades, part of Trump's efforts to get a deal, while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
If the negotiations fail, Trump repeatedly has threatened to attack Iran — something Mideast nations fear could spiral into a new regional war as the embers of the Israel-Hamas war still smolder. Already, Iran has said all U.S. military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk the tens of thousands of American service members in the region.
Trump on Tuesday night touched on Iran and the nuclear negotiations in his annual State of the Union speech.
“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” Trump said. “They were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, and in particular nuclear weapons, yet they continue. They’re starting it all over.”
Satellite photos earlier analyzed by the AP showed Iran beginning to rebuild its missile production sites and doing some work at the three nuclear sites attacked by the U.S. in June. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful. The West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003. It had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity before the June attack — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Responding to Trump, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei wrote on X, “Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies.'"
Trump said in his speech that at least 32,000 people were killed in the protests, which is at the high end of estimates offered by activists for the death toll. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency has so far counted more than 7,000 dead and believes the death toll is far higher. Iran’s government, which long has downplayed death tolls in other unrest, offered its only toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker, separately said the U.S. could either try diplomacy or face Iran's wrath.
“If you choose the table of diplomacy — a diplomacy in which the dignity of the Iranian nation and mutual interests are respected — we will also be at that table," Qalibaf said, according to the semiofficial Student News Network, a media outlet believed to be close to the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
“But if you decide to repeat past experiences through deception, lies, flawed analysis, and false information, and launch an attack in the midst of negotiations, you will undoubtedly taste the firm blow of the Iranian nation and the country’s defensive forces.”
Iran and the U.S. are due to meet on Thursday, their third round of talks under the mediation of Oman, long an interlocutor between Tehran and the West. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his team left Tehran on Wednesday afternoon for Geneva, where they will meet American officials led by special U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
Share with others
