Copy in clipboard...
Iran says nuclear talks possible only if related concerns are to be addressed
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations said if the objective of negotiations with Iran is to address concerns about any potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program; such discussions may be subject to consideration.
“However, should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program to claim that what Obama (former US president) failed to achieve has now been accomplished, such negotiations will never take place,” the mission said in a post on its X account on Sunday.
In recent months, the US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his interest to reach an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program.
However, his language of threats and imposition of sanctions against Iran have made Iranian officials skeptical of negotiations with the US administration.
Trump last month restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero.
Iranian officials have frequently said that negotiations under pressure are not meaningful.
On Saturday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the insistence of some bullying powers on negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program is aimed at imposing their demands, stressing that the Islamic Republic will not accept their expectations.
“The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiations is not aimed at resolving issues, but rather [aims] to assert and impose their own expectations,” he said.
“Definitely, the Islamic Republic will not accept their expectations,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.
In 2015, Iran reached a nuclear deal with Britain, Germany, France, the United States, Russia and China, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The US quit the agreement in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as US president, and Iran began moving away from its nuclear-related commitments under the deal.
The US unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and re-imposition of sanctions removed under the deal left the future of the JCPOA in limbo.
However, Iran has been trying to revive the JCPOA during the past years and has held several rounds of talks with the European parties to the deal, which their non-compliance to the agreement had a great impact on the implementation of the agreement.