Iran’s parliament warned on Wednesday that any perceived infringement by the UN's nuclear watchdog on its nuclear rights, including the right to enrich uranium up to 93%, would be met with backlash.
Speaking at the US-GCC summit in Riyadh, Trump said, “I want to make a deal with Iran. But for that to happen, it must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Last month, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said: “Iran is not far from having a nuclear problem. They don’t have it, we know it, but the material for it is already there. To make a few warheads.”
Trump accused his predecessor, President Joe Biden, of emboldening Iran and undermining US allies in the Persian Gulf. “Everyone at this table knows where my loyalties are,” he said. “Those days are over.”
The summit in Riyadh took place during the first leg of Trump’s tour of the Persian Gulf as the US seeks to revitalize ties with regional allies and broker new economic and security partnerships. Trump traveled to Doha on Wednesday.
During the visit in Riyadh, Trump also announced a $600-billion investment agreement with Saudi Arabia, covering sectors from energy and defense to mining and technology.
On Tuesday, Trump, speaking before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi and US officials, delivered a wide-ranging speech criticizing Iran while expressing willingness to strike a new nuclear deal.
Framing Tehran as the main obstacle to regional peace, Trump said, “The biggest and most destructive of these forces is the regime in Iran,” blaming it for destabilizing Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, and Yemen.
He contrasted Iran’s decline with the Persian Gulf’s growth, noting that while “you have been constructing the world’s tallest skyscrapers,” Iran’s infrastructure is “collapsing into rubble.”
“If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch,” he warned, the US would impose massive maximum pressure to stop it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Iranian officials swiftly pushed back. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, dismissed Trump’s remarks as provocative and misleading.
“Trump tries to portray Iran as the source of insecurity. But who killed 60,000 people in Gaza? Are we the ones spreading chaos?” Araghchi asked, in comments aired by state television, referring to US support of Israel in its war on Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
He rejected Trump’s threat of renewed pressure, saying, “The policy of maximum pressure has already failed.”
Araghchi added that Iran remains committed to dialogue and is awaiting further coordination by Oman, which has been mediating backchannel talks between Tehran and Washington.
“It is America that, through its sanctions over the past forty-some years, along with its pressures and its military and non-military threats, has hindered the progress of the Iranian nation; the one responsible for the economic problems is America,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also denied that nuclear negotiations were at an impasse.
“The fact that both Iran and the US want the talks to continue means the negotiation process is still ongoing,” he said.
He said details about the next round of talks will be announced by Oman soon.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday evening, “If we stand together, America will be powerless against us.”
In a surprise move during his stay in Riyadh, Trump also announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, following a landmark meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa—the first such encounter between leaders of the two nations in over two decades.
“We’re taking them all off. Good luck Syria, show us something very special,” Trump said at a US-Saudi investment forum.
The US leader also touted a recent ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a key Iran ally, and a diplomatic breakthrough in South Asia, where American mediation reportedly helped de-escalate tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
As the summit convened on Wednesday, Saudi Foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said Riyadh fully supports the US-Iran nuclear talks and hopes for positive results.
"Regarding the nuclear file, there is full support for the ongoing talks between the United States and Iran. We hope that these talks will lead to a positive outcome that ensures the stability of the region."
Oman’s Deputy Prime Minister for International Affairs, Al Sayyid Asaad Tariq Taimur Al Said, also expressed optimism that a nuclear deal with Iran could still be reached.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa echoed that sentiment, saying continued dialogue would “bolster stability and improve prosperity across the region.”
Whether Oman’s mediation can bridge the divide remains to be seen.
While the sentence remains in place, the case has entered a new phase. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei has approved preliminary steps to examine the ruling.
“According to legal procedure, the case will be examined by relevant experts to assess whether the verdict contradicts Sharia,” Tataloo’s lawyer Majid Naghshi told the Revolutionary Guards-linked Fars News Agency.
“If confirmed, the file will be sent to a parallel court branch for a final ruling.” He added that the process occurs only once and emphasized, “No final decision has been made yet, but this is a step forward in the legal path.”
Tataloo’s sister, Naghmeh Maghsoudloo, also announced the decision, noting that the case is now under Supreme Court review.
The singer remains imprisoned in Tehran’s Fashafuyeh facility, serving a 10-year sentence for “encouraging corruption.” Other charges include disrupting Islamic law, operating a gambling platform and publishing obscene content.
A separate blasphemy case led to a three-year sentence for insulting sanctities and initially, a death sentence for insulting the Prophet—a charge from which he had first been acquitted before a later court reversed the ruling.
The 37-year-old artist had lived in Istanbul since 2018, where he remained active on social media and announced plans to establish a so-called “Sultan’s Palace,” inviting girls between 15 and 20 to join. Instagram removed his account in 2019 over misogynistic content and promotion of child marriage.
On December 4, 2023, Turkish police arrested Tataloo following a complaint from the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, which accused him of harassing consular staff. He was later extradited to Iran and taken into custody at the Bazargan border.
Public figures across Iranian cultural life have rallied in opposition to the sentence. Rapper Toomaj Salehi, footballer Mehdi Taremi, actress Sahar Ghoreishi and bodybuilding champion Hadi Choopan all denounced the ruling in separate statements.
“You insulted all my sisters. But my heart cannot bear your voice being silenced,” Salehi wrote online, referring to Tataloo's controversial remarks against Mahsa Amini, the girl whose death in police custody sparked Iran's 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests.
Tataloo’s uncle, Mohammadali Maghsoudloo, revealed in an interview that the singer married inside prison just one week ago. He added that officials have provided accommodations for Tataloo’s vegetarian diet while in custody.
Once promoted by state-linked figures—he famously released a pro-nuclear anthem in 2015 and appeared with Ebrahim Raisi during the 2017 campaign—Tataloo later became a pariah, accused of corrupting youth and drawing numerous complaints from many families, according to the judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency.
In court, he expressed remorse, saying, “I didn’t get proper training, and I made a mistake.” Court documents also referenced a personal letter in which he asked to “marry, have children and pursue music in the right way.”
Once the death sentence is lifted, the case will move into the hands of Iran’s Supreme Court—an uncommon reversal in a legal system rarely swayed by public figures or online campaigns.
In a statement by lawmakers addressed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the group said that Iran's rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) — including nuclear research, development, and peaceful use — are non-negotiable and fully verifiable under the IAEA safeguards.
Read by presidium member Ahmad Naderi during a public session, the statement said, "According to Article 4 of the Treaty on the NPT, the great nation of Iran is entitled to three inalienable rights: first, the right to research and development; second, the right to produce; and third, the right to utilize nuclear energy."
The lawmakers argued that in accordance with this article of the NPT, "the Islamic Republic faces no limitations in nuclear research and development and can proceed with enrichment up to 93% based on its scientific, medical, and industrial needs."
The lawmakers also criticized the IAEA for what they called four decades of obstructing Iran’s peaceful nuclear development, and for relying on what they called politically motivated intelligence, particularly from Iran's archenemy, Israel.
Last month, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in an interview with Le Monde that Iran was “not far” from being able to produce an atomic bomb, describing the country’s progress as “pieces of a puzzle” that could potentially come together.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and remains under IAEA monitoring.
Also on Wednesday, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf condemned US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks in Riyadh in which he referenced Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program and Tehran's support for military proxies, calling them “delusional” and blaming US policies for instability in West Asia.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States in Jakarta, Indonesia, Ghalibaf said, “The root of chaos in the West Asia region lies in the US regime’s support for the Zionist mafia.”
Responding to Trump’s allegations, also in Riyadh, that Iran is the region’s main source of instability, while offering a conditional nuclear deal, Ghalibaf said, “His remarks show he lives in illusion.”
“We advise him to open his eyes to the reality that resistance holds a deep place in the hearts of the people,” Ghalibaf said in reference to Tehran-backed regional armed groups.
“Instead of worrying about Iran’s internal affairs, he should be concerned about his own popularity, which has plummeted to historic lows for an American president,” Ghalibaf added.
The speaker also criticized the US for decades of hostile actions against Iran, including the 1953 coup, support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, the downing of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, and the assassination of Revolutionary Guard commander General Qassem Soleimani.
“The Islamic Republic has withstood maximum pressure and continues to challenge the global hegemonic system. Even US universities are feeling the impact of this resistance message,” he said, alluding to recent campus protests over the war in Gaza across the US.
Ghalibaf maintained that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons and called for regional security through cooperation among neighbors, “free from the interference of non-regional powers.”
“Iran is not a warmonger, but we will never surrender. We are brothers with our neighbors and reject US efforts to stir division to boost its arms sales,” he said.
