GENEVA: The deadly bombing of an Iranian school on the first day of the Middle East war was a &quot;calculated&quot; assault by the United States, Iran&#39;s foreign minister said Friday.&nbsp;In a video address to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Abbas Araghchi slammed the &quot;calculated, phased assault&quot; on an elementary school &quot;in the city of Minab, south of Iran, where more than 175 students and teachers were slaughtered in cold blood&quot;.&nbsp;The attack happened on February 28, the day the United States and Israel launched the war with attacks across Iran, with Tehran in turn striking targets in Israel and Gulf nations.&nbsp;A US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake, according to the preliminary findings of a US military investigation reported by The New York Times.&nbsp;Speaking during an urgent council debate focused on the February 28 strike, Araghchi stressed that &quot;at a time when the American-Israeli aggressors, in their own assertions, possess the most advanced technologies, and the highest-precision military and data systems, no one can believe that the attack on the school was anything other than deliberate and intentional&quot;.&nbsp;The strike, he said, &quot;was a war crime and a crime against humanity, one that demands unequivocal condemnation by all and unambiguous accountability for the culprits&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;This atrocity cannot be justified, cannot be concealed, and must not be met with silence and indifference,&quot; the minister said.&nbsp;The attack, he insisted, &quot;was not a mere &#39;incident&#39; nor a &#39;miscalculation&#39;.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;The United States&#39; contradictory remarks aimed at justifying their crime could not, in any manner, elude their responsibility,&quot; he said.

Middle East

Iran’s foreign minister told the UN that the US deliberately bombed a school in Minab on February 28, killing over 175 people, rejecting Washington’s claim of a targeting mistake and calling it a war crime.

School strike 'calculated' assault by US: Iran foreign minister

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi on Tuesday rejected reports of contacting senior US envoy Steve Witkoff, according to Iran&rsquo;s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.&nbsp;The denial follows reports by Axios and other outlets reporting that Aragchi had attempted to directly communicate with Steve Witkoff, with messages reportedly focused on ending the ongoing conflict.&nbsp;&ldquo;My last contact with Mr. Witkoff was prior to his employer&rsquo;s decision to kill diplomacy with another illegal military attack on Iran,&rdquo; the minister said in a post on X.&nbsp;&ldquo;Any claim to the contrary appears geared solely to mislead oil traders and the public,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;The reports suggested a possible backchannel between Washington and Tehran, since US, &nbsp;Israel carried out airstrikes against Iran almost 3 weeks ago.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump, on multiple occasions, suggested that Iran wanted a deal for a ceasefire.&nbsp;&ldquo;They want to make a deal. They are talking to our people&hellip; we have people wanting to negotiate, [but] we have no idea who they are,&rdquo; Trump told reporters earlier.&nbsp;Iranian officials have maintained publicly that no ceasefire negotiations are underway

Central Asia

Americas

Iran denies reports of renewed contact with a US envoy, rejecting claims of backchannel talks with Donald Trump’s administration and insisting no ceasefire negotiations are underway amid escalating conflict.

Iran denies contact with US envoy

GENEVA: Iran said Tuesday it had agreed with the United States in <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-us-hold-new-geneva-talks-as-khamenei-warns-of-sinking-us-warship" style="color:#0073e6;">talks</a> in Geneva on &quot;guiding principles&quot; for a deal to avoid conflict, but Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-warns-iran-of-consequences-of-not-making-a-deal" style="color:#0073e6;">red lines</a>. The Omani-mediated talks were aimed at averting the possibility of US military intervention to curb Iran&#39;s nuclear program, weeks after the cleric-run state killed thousands of people as it crushed mass demonstrations. Iran&#39;s supreme leader had warned earlier in the day that the country had the ability to sink a US <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-located-near-iran-as-washington-increases-military-pressure" style="color:#0073e6;">warship</a> recently deployed to the region, after President Donald Trump alluded to &quot;consequences&quot; should the two sides fail to strike a deal. &quot;Ultimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on the text of a potential agreement,&quot; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television after Tuesday&#39;s talks, which he described as &quot;more constructive&quot; than the previous round earlier this month. He added that once both sides had come up with draft texts for an agreement, &quot;the drafts would be exchanged and a date for a third round (of talks) would be set.&quot; In Washington, Vance also appeared to indicate that the United States preferred diplomacy but painted a more mixed picture. &quot;In some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards,&quot; Vance said in a Fox News interview. &quot;But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,&quot; Vance told &quot;The Story with Martha MacCallum&quot; program. &quot;We&#39;re going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end,&quot; Vance said. Key gaps&nbsp;Araghchi also acknowledged that it &quot;will take time to narrow&quot; the gap between the countries after the talks with Trump&#39;s friend and roving envoy Steve Witkoff and the president&#39;s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iran for years has been seeking relief from sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, including a US-imposed ban on other countries buying its oil. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the two sides had made &quot;good progress,&quot; but likewise cautioned &quot;much work is left to be done.&quot; Washington has ordered two aircraft carriers to the region as it piles on pressure. The first &mdash; the USS Abraham Lincoln, with nearly 80 aircraft &mdash; was positioned about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed. Its location puts at least a dozen US F‑35s and F‑18 fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched over the weekend. &quot;A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,&quot; Khamenei said in a speech Tuesday. Iran has insisted the talks be limited to the nuclear issue, though Washington has previously pushed for other topics to be discussed, including Tehran&#39;s ballistic missiles program and support for armed groups in the region. War games&nbsp;Iran has also sought to display its military might, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps beginning a series of war games Monday in the Strait of Hormuz to prepare for &quot;potential security and military threats,&quot; state television said. Iranian politicians have repeatedly threatened to block the strait, a strategic route for oil and gas. A previous attempt at diplomacy collapsed last year when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran in June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites. The West fears Iran&#39;s nuclear program is aimed at making a bomb, which Tehran denies. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated in an interview published Tuesday that Tehran was &quot;absolutely not seeking nuclear weapons.&quot; &quot;If anyone wants to verify this, we are open to such verification to take place,&quot; he said. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, director of the Berlin-based Centre for Middle East and Global Order, said Iran was faced with an &quot;existential dilemma.&quot; &quot;Giving in to US demands could bring sanctions relief that it would desperately need to stabilize the regime and fund its repressive apparatus,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;However, any significant concessions on the nuclear, ballistic missile and regional proxies issues would sensitively undermine its ideological and military standing.&quot;

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivers a speech during a session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, on the sideline of a second round of US-Iranian talks on February 17, 2026. (AFP)

Tehran and Washington hold a second round of negotiations after talks last year collapsed following Israel's attack on Iran in June; talks continue after Washington deployed an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East following Iran's deadly crackdown last month on anti-government protests, first sparked by economic hardships.



Iran upbeat after US talks but Vance says 'red lines' not met

TEHRAN: Iran&#39;s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi headed to Switzerland on Sunday for the second round of renewed nuclear talks with the United States later this week, his ministry said.&nbsp;Araghchi &quot;left Tehran for Geneva late Sunday, heading a diplomatic and technical delegation to conduct the second round of nuclear talks and hold a number of diplomatic consultations,&quot; the ministry said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;Indirect Iran-US nuclear talks will be held on Tuesday with the mediation and good offices of Oman.&quot; During his visit to Geneva, Araghchi is expected to hold talks with his Swiss and Omani counterparts as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, and other international officials, the foreign ministry statement said.&nbsp;Tehran and Washington restarted nuclear negotiations in Muscat on February 6, months after previous talks collapsed when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran last June that started a 12-day war.&nbsp;The latest talks came with Washington having threatened Tehran with military action and deployed an aircraft carrier group to the region following Iran&#39;s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests last month.&nbsp;On Feb. 6, Araghchi led the Iranian delegation in indirect nuclear talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump&#39;s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner in Muscat.&nbsp;Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades.&nbsp;It has represented US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution.

Asia

Europe

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading a diplomatic and technical delegation for the second round of indirect nuclear talks with the US on Tuesday, mediated by Oman.

Iran FM heads to Geneva for second round of nuclear talks with US

BEIRUT: Iran&#39;s foreign minister accused the United States and Israel on Friday of fueling a growing protest movement in the country, while dismissing the possibility of direct foreign military intervention after US warnings over crackdowns on demonstrators.&nbsp;&quot;This is what the Americans and Israelis have stated, that they are directly intervening in the protests in Iran,&quot; said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a visit to Lebanon.&nbsp;&quot;They are trying to transform the peaceful protests into divisive and violent ones,&quot; he said, adding that &quot;regarding the possibility of seeing military intervention against Iran, we believe there is a low possibility of this because their previous attempts were total failures&quot;.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States and Israel of directly intervening in Iran’s protests, claiming they are turning peaceful demonstrations violent, while dismissing the likelihood of any foreign military intervention.

Articles tagged with "Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi"

School strike 'calculated' assault by US: Iran foreign minister

Iran denies contact with US envoy

Iran upbeat after US talks but Vance says 'red lines' not met

Iran FM heads to Geneva for second round of nuclear talks with US

Iran FM says US, Israel 'directly intervening' in protests