Iran FM: No Talks With US, For Now

By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday there is currently no possibility of resuming negotiations with the United States, citing what he described as a lack of constructive behavior from Washington.

“There is at present no possibility of restarting talks with the United States,” Foreign Minister Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting.

Araghchi said Tehran was open in principle to discussions that would be “based on equality and serve the interests of both sides,” but added that “the attitude we see from the Americans does not indicate such readiness.”

Relations between Tehran and Washington have remained tense amid continued US sanctions and disputes over Iran’s nuclear program. 

Araghchi has previously said that while diplomacy remains Iran’s preferred path, any new negotiations must take place on what he called “a foundation of mutual respect and balance.”

The foreign minister’s remarks came days after International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] chief Rafael Grossi said Iran retained enough highly enriched uranium and technical expertise to build nuclear weapons despite damage to several enrichment sites during "Israeli" and US strikes earlier this year.

Grossi said that while the June attacks on Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow had “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear facilities, the country “still possesses the knowledge and material to manufacture a few nuclear weapons.” 
He urged a “return to diplomacy,” warning that continued military escalation would erode chances of oversight and control.

In remarks on November 3, The Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei stated that only if the US completely ends its support for the Zionist entity, withdraws all its military bases from the region, and refrains from interfering in regional affairs, could any American request for cooperation with Iran be considered, not in the near future but in later times.