Washington — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran has “every right to enjoy a peaceful nuclear energy, including enrichment” as the U.S. pushes for a deal on its nuclear program.

Negotiators for the U.S. and Iran met last week in Geneva, where both sides said progress was made. President Trump said on Friday, amid a massive military buildup in the region, that he’s considering a limited military strike on Iran, after warning that Tehran had a matter of days to reach a deal on its nuclear program, or “bad things” would happen.

Araghchi announced Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” the two sides will come together again Thursday in Geneva. 

He said that the only way to find a resolution for Iran’s nuclear program is through diplomacy, while stressing that a solution is within reach. 

“So there is no need for any military buildup, and military buildup cannot help it and cannot pressurize us,” he said. 

The Iranian foreign minister, who helped negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal under the Obama administration, said the Iranians are still working on a draft proposal for Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. Araghchi said that when the two sides meet again Thursday, “we can work on those elements and prepare a good text and come to a fast deal.”

U.S. officials have expressed widespread skepticism about Iran’s nuclear program, including the bulk of Republicans in Congress who have called on the president to demand zero enrichment and a full dismantlement of the program. But Araghchi argued that “enrichment is our right.” 

Araghchi said enrichment is a “sensitive part” of the negotiations, noting that the U.S. negotiators are aware of Iran’s position and “we have already exchanged our concerns.”

“I think a solution is achievable,” Araghchi added. 

Asked by Brennan whether demanding a right to enrich on Iranian soil is worth the risk amid the American military buildup, Araghchi said “as a sovereign country, we have every right to decide for ourselves, by ourselves.”

“We have developed this technology by ourselves, by our scientists, and it’s very dear to us,”  Araghchi said. “So that is now a matter of dignity and pride for Iranians, and we are not going to give it up. There is no legal reason to do that while everything is peaceful, while everything is safeguarded by the agency.”

Araghchi said “if the U.S. attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves.”

“Our missiles cannot hit the American soil,” Araghchi said. “So obviously we have to do something else. We have to hit, you know, the Americans’ base in the region.”

Still, Araghchi questioned why conflict would be necessary “when there is every possibility for a peaceful solution.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — New anti-government protests have begun in Iran, witnesses said Sunday, as university students in Tehran and another city demonstrated around memorials for thousands of people killed in a crackdown on previous nationwide demonstrations about six weeks ago.

Iran’s state news agency said students protested at five universities in the capital, Tehran, and one in the city of Mashhad on Sunday. The scattered protests erupted Saturday at universities following 40-day memorials for people killed in January during anti-government rallies.

Iran’s government has not commented on the latest protests.

Many Iranians have held ceremonies marking the traditional 40-day mourning period in the past week. Most of the protesters are believed to have been killed around Jan. 8 and 9, according to activists tracking the situation.

Iranians across the country are still reeling with shock, grief and fear after the earlier protests were crushed by the deadliest crackdown ever seen under the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands are believed to have been arrested.

Although the crackdown tamped down the largest protests, smaller ones are still occurring, according to protesters and to videos shared on social media.

During the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah and brought the Islamic Republic to power, 40-day memorials for slain protesters often turned into rallies that security forces tried to crush, causing new deaths. Those were then marked 40 days later, with new protests.

Posts on social media Saturday and Sunday have alleged that security forces tried to restrict people from attending some 40-day ceremonies.

The new protests come while Iran braces for the possibility of a U.S. attack, as the Trump administration pushes for concessions from Iran on its nuclear program and other issues. The U.S. has built up its largest military presence in the Middle East in decades.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,015 people were killed in the previous protests and crackdown, including 214 government forces. The group has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists there to verify deaths.

The death toll continues to rise as the group crosschecks information despite disrupted communication with those inside the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s government offered its only death toll from the previous protests on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Friday that limited strikes against Iran are possible even as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran expects to have a proposed deal ready in the next few days, following indirect nuclear talks with the United States.

The movements of additional U.S. warships and airplanes, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, don’t guarantee a U.S. strike on Iran, but they bolster Trump’s ability to carry out one if he chooses.

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Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.