TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday (Jul 14) there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.
Washington and Tehran had been engaged in several rounds of negotiations seeking to strike a deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, but Israel derailed the talks when it launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, touching off 12 days of war.
Since the end of the hostilities, both Iran and the US have signalled willingness to return to the table, although Tehran has said it will not renounce its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power.
“If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,” Ali Velayati, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
The remarks came after foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for any meeting with the US.
“For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,” Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Araghchi and Witkoff had previously failed to conclude a deal after five rounds of talks that began in April and were the highest-level contact between the two countries since Washington abandoned a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018.
The Omani-mediated discussions paused after Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities on Jun 13, with the US later joining its ally and carrying out limited strikes.
“We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the US, committed military aggression against Iran,” Baqaei said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement on Monday that Iran “supports diplomacy and constructive engagement”.
“We continue to believe that the window for diplomacy remains open, and we will seriously pursue this peaceful path.”
Israel and Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.
While it is the only non-nuclear weapons power to enrich uranium to 60-per cent purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the United Nation’s atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication Iran was working to weaponise its stockpiles.
