IRGC: Iran’s defense capabilities, national security ‘non-negotiable’
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday the country’s national security and defense capabilities are not up for any negotiations as Iran and the US are scheduled to hold the second round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program in the coming days.
“National security and defense and military power are among the red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which cannot be discussed or negotiated under any circumstances,” IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naeini said.
Iran and the United States will hold another round of talks in Muscat on Saturday, a week after top officials met in the Omani capital for the highest-level discussions since the 2015 nuclear deal collapsed.
On April 12, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for talks.
Witkoff said on Monday that any nuclear deal between the US and Iran will hinge on verification of Tehran’s enrichment and weaponization capabilities.
“The first meeting, was positive, constructive, compelling,” Witkoff said in a televised Fox News interview.
Witkoff appeared to stop short of calling for a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, saying “this is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program.”
“They do not need to enrich past 3.67 percent,” the real estate magnate said, referencing the maximum level allowed under the prior nuclear agreement that Trump exited during his first term, in 2018.
“In some circumstances, they’re at 60 percent, in other circumstances 20 percent,” Witkoff said. “That cannot be, and you do not need to run, as they claim, a civil nuclear program where you’re enriching past 3.67 percent.”
Verification of “weaponization” capabilities will be another “critical” point in the negotiations with Iran, Witkoff said.
“That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there, and it includes the trigger for a bomb,” he told Fox host Sean Hannity.