Iran denies meeting with Witkoff and threatens to respond to UN sanctions

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that no date or location has been set for a meeting between Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's envoy, stressing that Tehran will respond if UN sanctions are reinstated.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei explained in a press conference that it no longer makes sense to resort to the mechanisms of the nuclear agreement after the attack on peaceful nuclear facilities.

Baghaei stressed that Tehran's current priority is the lifting of the "unjust" sanctions.

He also pointed out that the UN sanctions snapback mechanism has no legal basis.

Baghaei said his country would respond if UN sanctions were reinstated after the automatic sanctions mechanism was activated.

He added that European countries are not in a position to activate the UN mechanism to reimpose the sanctions.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would reimpose UN sanctions on Iran under a so-called "snapback mechanism" if no agreement on the nuclear issue was reached that safeguarded Europe's security interests.

This snapback mechanism will reimpose UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers in exchange for restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program.

For his part, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said that Tehran would respond harshly to any hostile stance toward it, noting that "we must prepare ourselves, as the greatest losses occur during the ceasefire period, as happened in Lebanon."

"We do not seek war with anyone. Problems can be resolved through dialogue, and appropriate conditions must be created for that," Aref added.

On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now openly dictating to the United States what to say and do in talks with Iran.

Araghchi noted that Netanyahu dreamed of eliminating 40 years of "our peaceful nuclear achievements," and the result was that every Iranian scientist assassinated by Israel raised hundreds of students who would demonstrate their capabilities to Netanyahu.