Iranian hardliners raise stakes ahead of new round of US talks, IAEA visit

An Iranian conservative daily warned Tuesday that the country could expel international nuclear inspectors and relocate its enriched uranium if military threats intensify, injecting new tension into Tehran-Washington relations.

The warning came just hours before Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was due to arrive in Tehran.

“If a serious military threat emerges, Iran will expel the inspectors, cut their access, and move nuclear materials to locations beyond reach,” Farhikhtegan wrote.

It accused the IAEA of political bias and said Grossi’s previous visits had yielded cooperation only from Iran. “Despite Iran’s compliance, the agency has published reports that fuel anti-Iran resolutions,” it added.

Grossi’s visit coincides with the anticipated second round of negotiations between Iranian and US officials. While details of the agenda remain unclear, the talks have stirred strong opposition across Iran’s ultraconservative press, particularly following mixed signals from Washington.

After the first round of negotiations in Oman on Saturday, US envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday that Iran might be allowed to continue low-level enrichment under a deal resembling the original JCPOA. But on Tuesday, he tweeted that “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”

“A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal," the special envoy said.

The hardline daily Kayhan, overseen by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office, focused on Tuesday on Witkoff’s new comments and accused the US of using diplomacy to mask coercive aims.

Editor Hossein Shariatmadari wrote that Witkoff’s offer in earlier talks had “no more value than a cheap political ruse,” adding that the US had “flunked its first test of sincerity.”

“The Americans pretend to negotiate, but their demands expose their true intentions—disarming the Islamic Republic and and plowing its land and people,” Shariatmadari said.

Meanwhile, senior Iranian military adviser Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari told ILNA news agency that Tehran’s stance would not change under pressure.

“Our positions are firm. It is the Americans and the Zionists who must adjust to Iran’s terms,” he said.

With nuclear inspectors in Tehran and diplomacy on a knife’s edge, Iran’s conservative media are pushing a dual message: cooperation remains conditional, but retaliation, if provoked, would be decisive.