Iran, US engaged in ‘battle of wills’
FM: Talks will yield results only if Iranians’ rights secured
Araghchi warns of ‘harsh’ response over triggering snapback mechanism
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday described the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington as a “battle of wills,” saying that the talks would yield results once the rights of the Iranian people were secured.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the members of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Araghchi said Tehran was “neither in any rush to reach an agreement with the US nor causing delays in the talks.”
However, he said that the officials would do their utmost to lift sanctions as soon as possible but not at the expense of Iranians’ rights.
“Therefore, we negotiate with patience and we will not back down on the people’s rights, including the issue of [uranium] enrichment,” said Araghchi who leads the Iranian negotiating team in the talks mediated by Oman.
Since April 12, Iran and the US have held five rounds of negotiations in Oman and Italy to settle a decades-long dispute on Iran’s nuclear program. Both sides have so far described the talks as constructive. But disagreement over uranium enrichment in Iran has hindered progress in the negotiations.
US top negotiator Steve Witkoff has said Washington “could not authorize even one percent” enrichment–a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Snapback mechanism
Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesman of the Parliamentary panel said Araghchi also warned of “harsh” response if the European countries invoked the so-called snapback mechanism to reimpose the United Nations sanctions on Iran.
The UK, France, and Germany–three European parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal–have recently threatened to trigger the mechanism, which would bring back a broad range of international sanctions on Iran that had been suspended under the tattered nuclear pact.
The lawmaker quoted Araghchi as saying that Iran would continue to pursue its “wise and clear nuclear policy,” which he said was not subject to pressure, threats, or enticements.
Pointing to proposals drawn up in the fifth round of talks which were held in Italy’s capital Rome, Araghchi said Iran welcomed the establishment of a regional enrichment center, according to the MP.
However, the minister clarified that enrichment activities would continue inside Iran, Rezaei explained.
Also on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei dismissed media reports about the timing and location of the next round of the negotiations, saying that the date for the next round of talks had not yet been set.