Iran is ready Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Tehran’s strength lies in its ability to withstand pressure while being prepared to defend itself when faced with challenges.

“We are a diplomat, we are also a war man; not that we seek war, but… we are ready to fight so that no one dares to fight us,” he said, according to Iran’s state-run English-language broadcaster Press TV.

Araghchi spoke at the Islamic Republic’s National Congress on Foreign Policy in Tehran two days after a meeting between Iran and the United States. nuclear negotiations In Oman.

fox news reported before Iranian and U.S. officials held face-to-face talks in the capital Muscat, the first such meeting since the U.S. attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.

Iran pushes for nuclear talks in Oman on Friday as tensions with US troops escalate: sources

Omani Foreign Minister Seyyed Badr Hamad Al Busaidi meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi ahead of U.S.-Iran talks in Muscat, Oman, on February 6, 2026. (Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Anadolu, Getty Images)

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X that the talks were “intense and lengthy,” saying the talks allowed both sides to express their respective positions and concerns.

“This is a good start, but Whether to continue depends on negotiation in our respective capitals and decide how to proceed,” the government account said.

It added that there was broad consensus among the parties to continue negotiations, although decisions on the timing, format and next round of negotiations would be made after consultations in both capitals, with Oman continuing to act as an intermediary.

The U.S. military shot down an Iranian drone approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, officials said

Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran considered its nuclear program a legitimate right and was seeking recognition of that position through negotiations.

“I believe the secret of the strength of the Islamic Republic of Iran lies in its ability to withstand bullying, domination and pressure from others,” he said, according to Press TV.

“They are afraid of our atomic bomb, and we are not pursuing the atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the big powers,” the senior diplomat added. “The secret of power in the Islamic Republic is saying no to power.”

Maps produced by Fox News show U.S. Navy ships deployed along key waterways in the Middle East from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea as part of an expanded U.S. military presence in the region. (Fox News/U.S. Naval Institute News Fleet and Navy Tracker)

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president Donald Trump Expanded U.S. military presence in the Middle East, deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and the USS Michael Murphy guided missile destroyer.

other U.S. naval assetsIncluding the USS Bulkeley, USS Roosevelt, USS Delbert Blake, USS McFaul, USS Mitchell, USS Spruance and USS Frank Peterson Jr., they are deployed in major waterways around Iran, from the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.