Iran’s top diplomat insisted on Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers”, striking a maximalist position just after negotiations with the United States over its nuclear programme and in the wake of nationwide protests.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signalled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with President Donald Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the talks on Friday in Oman with the Americans as “a step forward”, Araghchi’s remarks show the challenge ahead.Already, the US moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.“I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,” Araghchi said. “They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is in the power to say no to the powers.”Araghchi’s choice to explicitly use an “atomic bomb” as a rhetorical device likely wasn’t accidental. While Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is peaceful, the West says Tehran had an organised military programme to seek the bomb up until 2003.Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step to weapons-gradelevels of 90 per cent, the only non-weapons state to do so.