Araghchi: US needs to win Iran’s trust before new nuclear talks
The Iranian foreign minister said nice words from the US are not enough to win Iran’s trust for the resumption of nuclear talks, adding that, “Lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence.”
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump hinted he would prefer a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear issue, saying a new deal with Iran would be “nice.”
Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office on the same day whether he would support Israel striking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said, “Obviously, I’m not going to answer that question.”
“It would really be nice if that could be worked out without having to go that further step ... Iran hopefully will make a deal, and if they don’t make a deal, I guess that’s okay too,” the US president said.
In an interview with Sky News, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said although he was prepared to listen to Trump, it would take a lot more than that for Iran to be convinced it should begin negotiations with the US to strike another deal, given what happened to the first.
“The situation is different and much more difficult than the previous time,” he said. “Lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence… We haven’t heard anything but ‘nice’ words, and this is obviously not enough.”
‘Decisive response’ to anti-Iran strikes
Responding to a question about talks of Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Iranian foreign minister said, “Any attack against our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response”.
He added that such a move would be “crazy,” and would “turn the whole region into a very bad disaster.”
Positive signals are coming from Tehran and Washington as the two countries’ presidents prioritize negotiations to settle their disputes, not least over Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Since taking office in July, the new Iranian administration has repeatedly voiced its readiness to hold talks with the Western countries to resolve their disputes over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
In recent months, Iran and European parties to the nuclear deal – France, Germany and the UK – have held several rounds of talks on Iran’s nuclear program and have agreed to resume the negotiations in the future.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said last week Tehran is ready to start negotiations to lift “illegal and unilateral” sanctions imposed on Iran.
“We have always been ready for this, and if there is (readiness) on the other sides, we believe that the negotiations will take shape and will reach a conclusion,” Gharibabadi said.
In 2015, Iran proved the peaceful nature of its nuclear program to the world by signing the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with six world powers.
However, Washington’s unilateral withdrawal and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions left the future of the deal in limbo.