Iranian lawmaker slams US nuclear talks as strategic mistake

A senior Iranian lawmaker has criticized recent nuclear negotiations with the United States held in Pakistan, calling it a strategic mistake that weakened Tehran's position. Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of Iran's parliamentary national security and foreign policy committee, said Tehran should never have placed its nuclear program on the table during the talks, adding that doing so made the enemy bolder. According to Nabavian, Washington demanded that Iran freeze its stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium for 20 years, a condition Tehran rejected. Meanwhile, planned follow-up negotiations between Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and US Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad did not take place as scheduled, with Iranian dissatisfaction over the US naval blockade and internal disagreements among Iranian officials contributing to the delay. A former Iranian diplomat, Kourosh Ahmadi, warned that both Tehran and Washington face domestic constraints that could prevent an agreement, stating that decision-makers are trapped in slogans and positions from which they struggle to free themselves. The Supreme National Security Council issued a statement affirming Iran would not back down on the Strait of Hormuz closure, while US President Donald Trump asserted he was in no rush to reach a deal and warned that time was working against Iran, stating the blockade remains firmly in place and that Iran's military capabilities have been severely degraded.