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Talks with US can begin ‘tomorrow’ if there is change in US approach: Deputy FM
In an interview with Synergy Program released on Monday, Gharibabadi said that Tehran has never opposed dialogue in principle, but “not at any price.”
“Sitting down at the negotiating table with the United States is not a complicated issue; if a decision is made today, negotiations can begin tomorrow”, Gharibabadi said, but he said if there is no change in the US approach toward talks, such negotiations will not produce results.
Iran and the US held five rounds of negotiations last year to settle differences over Iran’s nuclear program. But in the middle of talks in June, the Israeli regime launched a surprise attack on Iran. The US later joined the aggression and bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Gharibabadi noted that during five rounds of talks with the US, Washington’s main demand was zero uranium enrichment in Iran – a position the Islamic Republic has consistently rejected.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister stressed that diplomacy has not reached a dead end, but negotiations under the shadow of military threats amount to coercion.
“As long as the United States believes it can achieve its objectives through sanctions pressure and ultimately military action, entering into genuine negotiations will be very, very difficult,” Gharibabadi said.
He underlined that useful negotiations based on a win–win approach take shape when Washington comes to the conclusion that pressure, sanctions, and military threats no longer work.