Iran Open to ‘Indirect Negotiations’ With US Over Nuclear Program, Foreign Minister Says

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that Iran is open to “indirect negotiations” with the US over its nuclear program if Washington drops its “maximum pressure” campaign against the regime. 

“The way is open for indirect negotiations,” Araghchi said, claiming that Tehran will not be open to discussing its nuclear program with the White House “until there is a change in the other side’s approach toward the Islamic republic.”

US President Donald Trump last month reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran, aiming to cut the country’s crude exports to zero and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon through harsh sanctions.

Days later, however, Trump also expressed a willingness to talk to Iran’s leaders, stating his desire to reach a “nuclear peace agreement” to improve bilateral relations with Tehran while insisting that the Iranian regime must not develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected the idea of negotiating with Washington, calling such a move “unwise” and “dishonorable.”

Araghchi similarly dismissed the possibility of nuclear talks with the United States.

“There will be no possibility of direct talks between us and the United States on the nuclear issue as long as the maximum pressure is applied in this way,” Araghchi said late last month during a joint press conference with his visiting Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. “We will not negotiate under pressure, threat, or sanctions.”

Nonetheless, Trump earlier this month sent a letter to Iran’s leadership saying he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and suggesting talks with the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei rejected Trump’s letter as deceptive, saying his demands would “tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed similar sentiments.

However, Iranian officials have said a diplomatic response is coming.

“Trump’s letter was more a threat, but it claims to have opportunities. We paid attention to all points held in the letter and will consider both threat and opportunity in our response,” Araghchi said last week. “There is an opportunity behind every menace.”

On Monday, Iran’s top diplomat echoed those comments and promised a response soon.

“Letters and correspondence make part of diplomacy” he said, cautioning that they can also be “part of pressure and threats.”

Araghchi’s comments come on the heels of demands from White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for Tehran to dissolve the entire Iranian nuclear program or suffer severe “consequences.”

“This isn’t some kind of, you know, kind of tit-for-tat that we had under the Obama administration or [former US President Joe] Biden,” Waltz said. “This is the full program. Give it up or there will be consequences.”

In addition, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, claimed on Sunday that although the Trump administration would prefer to negotiate with Tehran, the US would be willing to use military force if necessary to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“Our signal to Iran is let’s sit down and see if we can, through dialogue, through diplomacy, get to the right place. If we can, we are prepared to do that. And if we can’t, the alternative is not a great alternative,” Witkoff said. 

Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. However, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported last year that Iran had greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level.

At the time, the UK, France, and Germany said in a statement that there is no “credible civilian justification” for Tehran’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

The US government has for years described Iran, which is governed by an Islamist theocracy, as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, expressing deep concern about the potential ramifications if such a regime obtained nuclear weapons.

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