Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has ruled out a quick resumption of talks with the United States after President Donald Trump said US negotiations with Tehran could restart as early as this week.
Araghchi’s comments on CBS Evening News on Monday came as the foreign ministers of the G7 issued a statement calling for dialogue on a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran and the US were holding talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme when Israel launched attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure. The US later joined in Israel’s attacks, by bombing the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan sites on June 21.
Tehran insists its programme is peaceful, but the US and Israel say they want to ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon.
Araghchi said negotiations would not start as quickly as Trump had indicated, and that Iran first needs assurances against further attacks.
“In order for us to decide to reengage, we would have to first ensure that America will not revert back to targeting us in a military attack during the negotiations,” the minister said.
“I think with all these considerations, we still need more time,” he said, although “the doors of diplomacy will never slam shut”.
The Trump administration is seeking talks with Iran after the US president, during his first term, abandoned an agreement his predecessor signed with Tehran in 2015, which curbed the nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Under that deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium below 3.67 percent purity for fuel used in commercial nuclear power plants.
After Trump ditched the deal, Iran responded by producing uranium enriched to 60 percent, above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade.
Trump has said the US attacks had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites, and senior officials said it would be almost impossible for the country to resurrect its atomic programme.
Araghchi pushed back against that assertion, however.
“One cannot obliterate the technology and science for enrichment through bombings,” he told CBS. “If there is this will on our part, and the will exists in order to once again make progress in this industry, we will be able to expeditiously repair the damages and make up for the lost time.”
Since the US and Israeli attacks, and the ensuing ceasefire, Iran has put on hold its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) due to what Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday called the the agency chief’s “destructive” behaviour towards the country.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said tensions are growing between Iran and the IAEA.
“They [Iranians] are saying that they will only allow the inspectors to return once they secure the nuclear sites” that have been bombed by the US and Israel, Serdar said.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations, meanwhile, said they supported the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, and urged for negotiations between Tehran and Washington to resume.
“We call for the resumption of negotiations, resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran’s nuclear program,” the G7 foreign ministers said on Monday.
The ministers also urged “all parties to avoid actions that could further destabilise the region”.
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