Iran’s foreign minister defends enrichment as sovereign right
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Tehran will not accept any demand to halt uranium enrichment, calling such pressure an unacceptable form of foreign domination.
“Being told we cannot have enrichment because of others’ concerns is fundamentally rejecting our sovereignty,” Araghchi said during remarks at the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini. “No one in Iran will accept being denied this right—it would be submission to foreign dominance.”
He emphasized that uranium enrichment has always been a core national right and a consistent principle for Iran in past and ongoing nuclear talks. “Enrichment is a necessity for the country, and it has always been central to our position,” he said.
Addressing concerns over nuclear weapons, Araghchi reaffirmed Iran’s opposition to them. “If the issue is nuclear weapons, we reject them ourselves. We have been and remain a flag-bearer in opposing nuclear arms,” he said.
Araghchi said international law supports Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology, and that this right must not be denied under the pretext of others’ political concerns.
Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, (left), Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (right), 31 May 2025.
A growing nationwide strike by Iranian truckers could cripple the economy and spark a broader civil movement, experts said on Eye for Iran, calling it the most serious challenge the government has faced in recent years.
“Strikes in Iran, particularly transportation strikes, have the potential to paralyze the regime,” said Alireza Nader, a political analyst and former senior policy advisor at the RAND Corporation, a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank based in the United States.
The truckers’ strike began on May 22 in the strategic port city of Bandar Abbas and has rapidly spread to over 141 cities across Iran in less than a week. What started as a protest against fuel quota cuts has evolved into a nationwide movement exposing deep-seated grievances.
“This unity and solidarity is the result of your determination,” the truckers' union wrote in a statement. “Thanks to all the drivers, small freight operators, teachers, retirees, workers and free citizens who joined us. Our path is clear and we will persist.”
Truckers are demanding fair fuel pricing, insurance coverage, and livable freight rates. Footage from cities like Marivan and Bandar Abbas shows major highways eerily empty, a striking visual of collective defiance.
“If bus drivers, train drivers, and energy workers strike, you have communications, transportation, and energy cut off. That’s why the regime is worried,” said Nader, drawing parallels to the pivotal economic strikes that brought down the Shah during the 1979 revolution.
'A cry for dignity'
For human rights advocate Nazanin Afshin-Jam, the protests are about more than economics.
“This is not just about wages or fuel prices,” she said. “It’s a broader cry against corruption, mismanagement, and the regime’s failure to provide basic needs.”
Economist Mahdi Ghodsi, with the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, noted that truckers are emblematic of a larger crisis.
Even basic survival is out of reach for most Iranians. The statistics are chilling:
“60% of Iranians can’t meet basic calorie needs. Truckers earn less than €200 a month and pay European-level food prices,” he said, adding that the Iranian rial has lost 98% of its value since 2011, while inflation hovers above 40%.
Afshin-Jam shared that she regularly receives desperate messages from inside Iran. “Every day I get messages from people saying they have no food, they’re getting evicted. This is the reality across Iran.”
The Islamic Republic's dilemma
Unlike past protests, the truckers are not openly calling for regime change, nor are they violating the law by refusing to work. This puts the Islamic Republic in a difficult position: it cannot easily suppress the strike without risking escalation, nor can it offer concessions without appearing weak—especially amid ongoing nuclear negotiations with the US.
Iran’s freight sector is uniquely decentralized, with over 550,000 drivers operating 433,000 trucks—93% of which are individually owned. This grassroots structure makes the movement harder to crush.
“Most of these truckers own their vehicles. So technically, they’re not breaking any laws by refusing to work,” said Nader. “They’re not explicitly calling for the overthrow of the political system—they just can’t work.”
That ambiguity puts the Islamic Republic in a bind: the strike is disruptive but not overtly political, making it harder to justify a violent crackdown without risking backlash or further unrest.
Nonetheless, the Islamic Republic has begun cracking down. At least 20 people have been arrested, including drivers accused of filming strike footage for foreign-based media.
Echoes of past uprisings
Iran has a history of economic protests turning political. The 2019 “Bloody Aban” or "Bloody November" uprising, triggered by a 200% fuel price hike, quickly morphed into a movement against the government and was met with lethal force.
Today’s trucker strike shows similar signs of escalation. More than 180 rights and student organizations linked to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement have announced their support.
“We're seeing a deep cross-sectional support from other unions, students, teachers, and marginalized groups,” said Afshin-Jam. “This is about justice and dignity.”
Award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi have also publicly backed the strike. “The strike is a loud cry to the government: enough is enough! Stop the massive suppression and plundering,” Panahi wrote on Instagram.
Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi has also voiced his support and advocated for non-violent civil disobedience.
A tipping point?
As the strike disrupts supply chains and inflation worsens, some believe Iran is reaching a critical juncture.
“Economic strikes are hard to suppress because they don’t follow the usual playbook,” Ghodsi explained. “They’re not violent. They’re not demanding regime change. But they can shut the country down.”
Iran’s government is reportedly using trucks linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) to transport goods, but experts say this is unsustainable.
Looking ahead, Ghodsi warned of further unrest if the truckers’ demands go unmet. “If this continues, other sectors could join. And that’s when it becomes unstoppable.”
The diaspora’s role
Afshin-Jam called on Iranians abroad and international allies to raise awareness and provide support.
“The Iranian diaspora community needs to dig deep in their pockets and find ways to send money back home to keep this strike going,” she said.
She also urged action from Western governments and labor unions, including the AFL-CIO and the International Labour Organization, to support Iran’s striking workers—much like they did during South Africa’s apartheid era.
For now, the truckers’ movement continues to grow, fueled by desperation—but also by a vision of justice.
Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of Iran's Supreme Leader in the hardline daily Kayhan, has called on authorities to question French nationals visiting Iran about their stance on Israel, and to detain those who refuse to condemn it.
The suggestion follows the continued detention of Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian translator living in Lyon who has been detained since early March for supporting Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel in Telegram posts.
Shariatmadari framed the arrest as politically motivated and urged a reciprocal response.
"If religious principles do not permit imprisoning them, at the very least, arrest them and then expel them from the country," he said.
In addition to Esfandiari, France has arrested a dual Iranian-French national, Shahin Hazamy, on charge of “apologie du terrorisme,” a criminal charge under French law covering praise of terrorist acts.
The Iranian Judiciary's official news agency Mizan described him as an independent journalist and said the arrest stemmed from his support for Palestine, without citing French legal charges.
Posts on Hazamy’s Instagram account show support for Hezbollah and Palestinian factions backed by Tehran, as well as images taken during recent visits to Lebanon.
Iran’s foreign ministry has criticized both arrests, demanding explanations and consular access. Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in April that the detentions raised serious concerns over the rights of Iranian nationals in France.
France, meanwhile, says Iran detains French citizens as leverage in diplomatic disputes. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged French nationals not to travel to Iran, citing the risk of arbitrary arrest.
In January the European Parliament adopted a motion for a resolution condemning Iran’s detention of European Union citizens, labelling the practice as “hostage diplomacy" accusing Iran of using the prisoners for political ends.
Former US senator Bob Menendez on Friday accused former president Barack Obama of orchestrating his political downfall after he opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“When, as the Chairman of the SFRC (Senate Foreign Relations Committee), I didn't go along with Obama's Iran deal, I was indicted, and the next day after being stripped of my position, Obama announced the Iran deal,” Menendez wrote on X.
“Obama told me that he could not have the Democratic Chairman of the SFRC be against him,” he added.
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a multilateral agreement between Iran and world powers that aimed to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Menendez, a Democrat, was one of the most prominent critics of the deal within his party at the time.
“By having me removed as the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama removed my major opposition to his Iran deal. It was a bad deal for the U.S. and for our ally, Israel,” Menendez said.
Menendez resigned from the Senate last year after being convicted on 16 federal charges, including bribery, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. He was sentenced in January 2025 to 11 years in prison. He is supposed to report to federal prison on June 17.
A nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States is within reach if Washington meets three key conditions, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said in an interview with NEWS.am, an Armenian news outlet, during his visit to Yerevan.
“If the United States departs from its old policy of not respecting the rights of other nations, including Iran; if it accepts Iran's right to peaceful nuclear activity under the Non-Proliferation Treaty; and if it provides an objective guarantee for the lifting of sanctions, then I think an agreement is very close,” NEWS.am quoted Khatibzadeh as saying.
"Iran does not want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal. And I think that could happen in the not-too-distant future," US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday.
"That would be a great thing. If we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East, that would be a very good thing," he added.
"They can't have a nuclear weapon. We want them to be safe. We want them to have a very, very successful nation. Let it be a great nation, but we can't have that. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. I think we're fairly close to a deal with Iran."
