Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

Washington’s current approach toward Tehran does not indicate any readiness for “equal and fair negotiations,” Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump hinted last week at potential discussions.

Following Israel’s attack on Iran in June, which was joined by U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, attempts at renewing dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program have failed.

The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear program as a veil for efforts to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran and Washington underwent five rounds of indirect nuclear talks prior to the 12-days-war, but faced obstacles such as the issue of domestic uranium enrichment, which the U.S. wants Iran to forego.

“The U.S. cannot expect to gain what it couldn’t in war through negotiations,” Abbas Araqchi said during a Tehran conference named “international law under assault.”

“Iran will always be prepared to engage in diplomacy, but not negotiations meant for dictation,” he added.

During the same conference, deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh accused Washington of pursuing its wartime goals with “negotiations as a show.”

The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – The Israeli government has approved the creation of an “independent” commission of inquiry to examine the failures that enabled the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023.

However, in a move sharply criticized by the opposition and contrary to the recommendation of the Supreme Court, the panel will not be a formal state commission of inquiry. Instead, its mandate, authorities, and scope will be determined directly by government ministers.

According to the decision, the commission will receive full investigative powers and must be composed in a way that ensures “the broadest possible public trust.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form a special ministerial committee tasked with defining what the inquiry may investigate, the time periods to be reviewed, and the authority it will receive. The committee has 45 days to deliver its recommendations.

For the past year, the government has repeatedly resisted calls to establish a state commission, arguing at first that such a body could not operate during wartime. Later, some ministers accused Supreme Court President Isaac Amit of being incapable of appointing an impartial chairperson.

But on October 15, the High Court of Justice ruled that there was “no substantive argument” against forming a state commission, giving the government 30 days to respond.

Netanyahu maintains that responsibility for the October 7 failures lies primarily with Israel’s security agencies rather than with political leaders.

His critics accuse him of creating a weaker, government-controlled inquiry designed to limit scrutiny of his decisions, undermining the prospect of full accountability for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to members of the media following the passage of a funding bill in the US House of Representatives to bring the longest US government shutdown in history to a close, which now requires US President Donald Trump’s signature, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., US, November 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday he believed the approaching vote on releasing Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein should help put to rest allegations that President Donald Trump had any connection to the late sex offender’s abuse and trafficking of underage girls.

“They’re doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that he has something to do with it. He does not,” Johnson, the Republican leader in the House, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Epstein is their entire game plan, so we’re going to take that weapon out of their hands,” Johnson said of Democrats. “Let’s just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide.”

Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out prior to Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee showed Epstein believed Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.

Trump has since instructed the Department of Justice to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Epstein.

Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and an original sponsor of the petition calling for a vote on the files’ release, said on Sunday that he expected more than 40 Republicans to vote in favor.

Republicans hold the majority in the House, with 219 seats, versus 214 for Democrats.

Khanna, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said the measure is not about Trump but about accountability for all the powerful individuals who allegedly participated in abusing thousands of victims.

“This is not partisan. They all need to be held accountable. The Epstein class needs to go,” Khanna said.

The battle over disclosure of more Epstein-related documents, a subject Trump himself campaigned on, has opened a rift with some of his allies in Congress. Trump late on Friday withdrew his support for Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his staunchest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on certain issues, including the handling of the Epstein files.

In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, Greene said she did not believe the as-yet-unreleased files would implicate the president, but she renewed her call for further transparency.

“I don’t believe that rich, powerful people should be protected if they have done anything wrong,” she said.