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Larijani: Iran open to negotiations but demands ‘real’ talks
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said the Islamic Republic is not saying that it will not negotiate, but the negotiations must be real.
“No one says we will not negotiate, but we should not be naive. Negotiation is a method, but it must be done at the right time,” Larijani said during a meeting on Wednesday.
Referring to the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West, the Iranian official said that they say Iran must stop uranium enrichment, reduce the range of its missiles, and do in the region exactly what they want.
Larijani said that the enemy’s main goal is to break the will of the Iranian nation, adding, “The enemy’s demands are endless and require national resistance. Iranians must stand firm on their own demands.”
“It is not the case that the Islamic Republic is unwilling to negotiate. We were negotiating when the enemy started the war.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an interview with Al Jazeera said that the Islamic Republic will not give up its capacity to enrich uranium and will never negotiate on its missile program to reach an agreement on its nuclear program.
Araghchi said that Tehran is ready to hold talks to remove concerns about its peaceful nuclear program, stressing that it is possible to reach a fair agreement. However, he noted that the United States has set “unacceptable conditions.”
“We will not negotiate on our missile program, and no rational person would agree to be disarmed. Halting uranium enrichment is not possible,” Iran’s top diplomat said.
Comments by Iranian officials came as Oman urged Tehran and Washington on Saturday to resume talks.
"We want to return to the negotiations between Iran (and) the United States," Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain.
A day earlier, Al-Busaidi hosted Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht-e Ravanchi in Muscat where the two sides exchanged views on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Takht-e Ravanchi said that the Islamic Republic expressed its “clear position” on the issue during the meeting in Muscat.
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Sunday that Tehran "has received messages" on resuming diplomacy, without providing further details.
Oman hosted five rounds of US-Iran talks this year. Just three days before the sixth round, Israel launched an unprovoked aggression against Iran, which derailed negotiations with the US.