Iran says no talks with US until it rejoins nuclear deal
- Foreign Minister Zarif said any negotiations with Washington would have to address the need for a guarantee that it won’t quit the pact again
- Earlier, Iran rebuffed an offer from the Biden administration to meet to discuss a ‘diplomatic way forward’
“Once everybody implements their parts of the obligation there will be talks, and those talks will not be about changing the terms of the agreement, regional issues or missile issues. We’re not going to discuss those,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with state-run Press TV. Any negotiations with the US would have to address the need for a guarantee that Washington won’t quit the deal again, Zarif added.
Iran held fast to its red lines days before it is set to bar snap international inspections of its nuclear sites. Such a move, threatened in an effort to pressure the Biden administration to reverse bruising Trump-era sanctions, is likely to make concessions by either side more difficult.
US offers to meet Iran to save nuclear deal
The head of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, is currently in Tehran to discuss the matter. So far talks between Iranian officials and the agency have been “fruitful,” Iran’s envoy to the Vienna-based body, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in a tweet.
Zarif said the restriction of nuclear inspections, meant to start from February 23, will also mean the UN body will no longer have access to camera footage of its nuclear sites.
On Friday, Iran rebuffed an offer from the Biden administration to meet to discuss a “diplomatic way forward.”
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Why can't Iran and the US get along?
Zarif said Iran would return to full compliance with the original terms of the deal “the minute” the US officially rejoins, adding that Iran will continue to increase its stockpile of 20 per cent enriched uranium as long as Washington isn’t part of the deal.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. The atomic accord was meant to address scepticism of that claim and to put limits on uranium enrichment, which technically could be a step toward building a bomb.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only. Critics of the nuclear deal, which placed strict limits on Iran’s atomic activities and prohibited it from developing a military nuclear capability, say that enhanced uranium enrichment could be a step toward building a bomb.
