Qatar warns anti-Tehran military actions to have regional consequences
Qatar’s foreign minister said on Saturday that there is no effort to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic means, warning that any military action against Iran will have consequences for the regional countries.
“It is very important that we find a way to revive negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. If any actions are taken against Iran, all the countries in the region will be affected,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said.
Iran and the United States engaged in nuclear talks in April and held five rounds of negotiations. But, in the middle of the talks Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran and derailed the talks. The US later joined the aggression and launched attacks on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran responded to the attacks with missile strikes on Israel’s positions in the occupied territories as well as the largest US military base in the region in Qatar.
Despite the brief war between Iran and the US, Iran has repeatedly said that it is ready for negotiations to settle the nuclear tensions with the West.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Saturday said Iran remained open to diplomacy, but wanted guarantees of a “fair and balanced” outcome.
He reiterated that the deadlock affecting diplomacy stemmed from American demands introduced under President Donald Trump, including the Islamic Republic’s halt to all uranium enrichment processes, a position Tehran categorically rejects.
The foreign minister said the core issue remained Washington’s reluctance to recognize Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology, including enrichment, under the NPT.
According to Araghchi, the Islamic Republic was prepared to accept limitations on enrichment levels and centrifuge types, and negotiations could progress once the United States accepted the country’s peaceful nuclear energy program and lifted the illegal and unilateral sanctions it had imposed on the country.
“For the time being [though], we are not convinced they are ready for a real, serious negotiation,” he said.