Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran is considering whether to participate in the next round of indirect nuclear negotiations with the US.
Araghchi said on Wednesday that the Iranian delegation is reviewing the proposed time and venue of the 5th round of talks even as he emphasised the country’s resolve to confront excessive US demands.
His remarks came after US reports said the next round of talks are expected to take place ‘at the weekend’ in Rome.
‘We are considering whether to partake in the next round of negotiations,’ Araghchi said.
‘We are still investigating whether useful and beneficial negotiations can be held on that date and in that location,’ he added.
Contradictory statements by US officials, including their demand for ‘zero enrichment’ by Iran, has left the fate of negotiations in limbo.
Araghchi underlined that Tehran has previously responded to ‘unreasonable requests’, saying Iran would by no means halt its uranium enrichment programme.
‘We have already responded to unreasonable requests, and these unusual statements do not help advance the talks,’ Araghchi said.
‘Our position is completely clear; enrichment, whether with or without an agreement, will continue,’ he added.
Araghchi said: ‘If the parties are willing to have transparency regarding Iran’s peaceful programme, we are ready.’
‘However there must be a discussion about lifting the cruel sanctions that have been imposed due to claims about our nuclear programme, and these sanctions must be removed.’
On Sunday, Araghchi warned the United States against making ‘unrealistic demands’ in talks, saying they were ‘completely detached from the reality of negotiations’.
Iran has held four rounds of indirect talks with the US on a replacement for the 2015 deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which have been generally described as positive by the two sides.
In 2018, US President Donald Trump walked out of the landmark agreement between Iran and several other countries that gave it sanctions relief in return for confidence-building restrictions on its nuclear activities.
Iran now wants guarantees that the US will remove all the sanctions and won’t again unilaterally derail the new deal.
Meanwhile, Iran says it will not negotiate over its uranium enrichment programme in indirect talks with the United States, and will not forego this right under any conditions, said Foreign Minister Araghchi.
‘What we are witnessing now are completely unreasonable and illogical positions by the Americans, which have become public in the past few days.
‘These positions were met with an immediate response from Iran,’ Araghchi said in remarks on Tuesday.
The minister said Iran entered into talks to ‘secure the rights of the Iranian people, and under no circumstances will we compromise on these rights.
‘The subject of enrichment is not, in our view, open for negotiation at all,’ he stressed.
‘I have provided a clear response over the past few days, and today the Leader completely clarified our stance,’ Araghchi said, referring to earlier remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei that it is ‘utterly wrong’ for the US to insist on Iran completely stopping its peaceful uranium enrichment activities.
‘To say that “we will not allow Iran to enrich uranium” is a huge mistake,’ Ayatollah Khamenei stated on Tuesday.
‘No one is waiting for permission from anyone. The Islamic Republic has its own policies, its own methods, and it pursues its own agenda,’ the Leader underlined, while addressing a ceremony commemorating the first martyrdom anniversary of President Ebrahim Raeisi.
Iran and the US have held four rounds of indirect talks mediated by Oman so far.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Leader considers it to be ‘utterly wrong’ for the US to insist on the Islamic Republic’s completely stopping its peaceful uranium enrichment activities.
Iranian officials have criticised ‘contradictory’ statements by US officials, along with the continued imposition of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry and nuclear programme, despite the ongoing talks.
US officials have said Iran has to stop all enrichment activities over the past days.
On May 18th, Araghchi said Iran has been observing ‘dissonance … between what our US interlocutors say in public and in private’.
On May 16th, Iran held parallel talks with Britain, France, and Germany, all parties to the 2015 deal.
Araghchi said Iran is willing to ‘begin a new chapter’ with Europe and urged it to play a role in the nuclear negotiations.
Meanwhile, Araghchi says the process of re-establishing relations with Bahrain and Egypt has begun.
Araghchi said on Monday that several requests have been made to establish relations with Manama since Tehran and Riyadh normalised their relations back in 2023.
The top diplomat said efforts are underway to re-establish ties with the Persian Gulf Arab nation, expressing hope that those efforts will soon bear fruit.
Regarding Tehran-Cairo relations, the Iranian foreign minister noted that ties between Iran and Egypt have expanded significantly.
He mentioned that the presidents and foreign ministers of both countries have met several times and maintain regular telephone conversations.
Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia’s suit and severed diplomatic relations with Iran on January 4, 2016, after Iranian protesters, enraged by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its diplomatic mission in Iran.
Tehran and Riyadh reached an agreement in the Chinese capital city of Beijing in March 2023 to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions.
Back on October 21, Foreign Minister Araghchi and King Hamad of Bahrain met in Manama and discussed relations and the latest developments in the region, most notably the escalation of Israel’s atrocities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980, as shifts widened between the two following the Islamic Revolution in Iran and Egypt’s recognition of Israel.
The move came after Egypt welcomed the deposed US-backed Pahlavi ruler.
However, since Egypt’s longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011, there has been a warming of relations between Iran and Egypt.
In recent years, particularly amid the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, diplomatic contacts between the two countries have intensified as Egypt has tried to play a mediating role.
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the Islamic Republic is eager to expand ties with Turkmenistan in various fields.
The Iranian president said strengthening cooperation between Tehran and Ashgabat will guarantee prosperity and security of both nations.
Pezeshkian made the remarks in a meeting with Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Tehran on Tuesday, where they discussed ways to expand bilateral relations.
‘Deepening and strengthening cooperation, especially joint and mutual investments between Iran and Turkmenistan, can guarantee the future prosperity, comfort, friendship and security of the two nations,’ he said.
He said Iran is keen to import natural gas from Turkmenistan, while it also has the efficient capacity to export and swap gas with neighbouring countries.
Pezeshkian underscored the need for building a gas pipeline between the two countries that can support multiple purposes, including domestic use, export, and gas swaps.
‘In addition to energy cooperation, Iran aims to expand cooperation with Turkmenistan in areas such as transport, trade, investment, and cultural exchanges,’ he said.
Meredov, for his part, said Turkmenistan sees long-term opportunities for economic cooperation with Iran and is committed to enhancing trade routes and border markets.
Meredov, who is in Tehran for the 18th Joint Economic Cooperation Commission, said Turkmenistan seeks to increase the volume of natural gas it transits to other countries via Iran amid efforts by the Central Asian state to use growing relations with the Islamic Republic as an opportunity to expand its energy exports.
Iran has signed several gas swap agreements with Turkmenistan in recent years to supply the equivalent of natural gas it imports from the country to Azerbaijan and Iraq.
The swap deals boost Iran’s ability to increase its supply of natural gas to its national grid customers in the northeast of the country, where key population and industry centres are located.
Iran also imports nearly two billion kilowatt hours of electricity from Turkmenistan each year to respond to rising demand for power in its north east.
- The Iranian Energy Ministry has allowed large manufacturers in the country to start importing electricity amid restrictions imposed on their power supplies.
The head of transmission and international trade operations at the Iranian state electricity company Tavanir said on Tuesday that a permit has been issued to enable large industries to import power from Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Mohammad Allahdad said that the decision had been adopted to provide stable supplies of electricity to large manufacturers and to ease the burden on Iran’s electrical grid.
Allahdad said that the foreign exchange price applied to imports will be a rate supported by the government and used by other importers and exporters, which is normally 10% lower than the free market rates.