Tehran not to relinquish ‘inalienable rights’ in nuclear talks: FM spox
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that the Islamic Republic will not unilaterally give up its “legitimate and inalienable rights” in any negotiation to reach an agreement on its nuclear program.
Speaking in his weekly press conference, Baqaei said that based on the principles of international law and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has inalienable rights.
“Without a doubt, in no negotiation are we going to give up our legitimate rights unilaterally. If such a realistic understanding and respect for Iran’s rights take hold on the other side, one may say that the conditions for a meaningful dialogue are in place; however, under the current circumstances, I do not think we have come to that stage yet,” the Iranian official said.
Responding to a question about new negotiations with the US, Baqaei said that no official message had been received from the American side via Oman.
He stated that while intermediaries continue efforts to exchange messages, this “does not at all mean the start of a negotiation process between Iran and the US.”
“Iran was attacked while engaged in diplomatic negotiations. The Iranian people can never forget this,” he noted, referring to a US-Israeli aggression in June that killed many high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians.
He said that the US has proven it does not adhere to the requirements of reasonable negotiation, and that talks can only be considered when parties are able to accept each other’s interests.
Iran and the US began nuclear talks in April, which were derailed by the Israeli aggression in June. During the talks, the US insisted on zero uranium enrichment in Iran, which has been repeatedly rejected by the Iranian officials.
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.
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.”
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump in an interview with the CBS News claimed that, Iran wants to make a deal.
“They don't say that, and they probably shouldn't say – no good deal maker would. But Iran very much wants to make a deal,” he said.
After the failure of Tehran-Washington nuclear talks, Oman and Qatar have called for the resumption of negotiations between the two sides.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al‑Thani in an interview with CNN on Sunday said that Iran is part of the region and must be engaged.
He said that Doha has always supported diplomacy to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, adding that, “We do not want a nuclear arms race in our region.”
Oman also 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.