U.S. launches "endless war" to plunder others' resources: Iranian president

TEHRAN, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said here Sunday that the United States has begun an "endless war" across the world to plunder other countries' resources and even human workforce, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The West seeks to provoke conflicts in the Middle East to own the regional countries' resources at any price it wants, Pezeshkian said at the opening ceremony of the Tehran Dialogue Forum, a two-day event that has drawn 200 foreign delegations, including senior government officials and representatives of international organizations, to discuss regional and global challenges.

Pezeshkian added that Iran has nothing to hide and will under no circumstances stop its "peaceful nuclear program."

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, talking about the Iran-U.S. indirect talks at the ceremony, said Iran wants "a fair and balanced agreement that would be formed within the framework of the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and based on full respect for Iran's nuclear rights and guarantee the removal of sanctions in an objective manner."

"Iran is committed to diplomacy and expects the cruel and unilateral sanctions, which have directly targeted our people, to be truly and tangibly lifted," he said.

He added that Iran is ready to open a new chapter in its ties with Europe if the latter has a real determination and adopts an independent approach towards Iran.

The Iranian and U.S. delegations have held four rounds of indirect talks on Tehran's nuclear program and the lifting of U.S. sanctions in the Omani capital Muscat and Italy's Rome.

Meanwhile, Iran and three European countries -- France, Germany and Britain, collectively known as the E3 -- held a high-level meeting in Türkiye's Istanbul on Friday on the latest developments in the Iran-U.S. indirect talks, the sixth round of such talks between Iran and the E3 since September 2024, which have covered Tehran's nuclear program and the removal of sanctions, among other issues. ■