Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Western countries, spearheaded by the United States and joined by Israel, accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and define uranium enrichment as a red line. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear programme if Western countries show they are “serious”. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear programme if Western countries show they are “serious”, the Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying in an interview published on Thursday (January 30, 2025).

“We have said several times that we are ready for discussions, but only if the other side is serious about this,” Esmaeil Baqaei told the government daily Iran.

Tehran has signalled to the West several times recently indicating a willingness to reach an agreement over its nuclear programme.

In an interview with Sky News posted to his official Telegram channel on Tuesday (January 28), Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the new U.S. administration should work to win back Tehran’s trust if it wants a new round of nuclear talks.

In Thursday’s interview, Mr. Baqaei expressed hope that new U.S. President Donald Trump would adopt a “realistic approach” towards Iran.

During his first term that ended in 2021, Trump pursued a policy of “maximum pressure”, withdrawing the United States from a landmark nuclear deal which imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Asked about the possibility of new talks, Baqaei was quoted on Thursday as saying Iran’s policy would depend on “the actions of the other parties”.

Tehran adhered to the deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — until a year after Washington’s withdrawal in 2018, but then began rolling back its commitments.

Efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear pact have since faltered.

Iran has repeatedly expressed willingness to revive the nuclear deal, and President Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office last July, has called for an end to his country’s isolation.

Before Trump’s return to the White House, Iranian officials held nuclear talks with counterparts from Britain, France and Germany that both sides described as “frank and constructive”.

In December, the three Western governments accused Tehran of growing its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to “unprecedented levels” without “any credible civilian justification” and discussed the possible reimposition of sanctions.

On Thursday, Baqaei warned that if this happened, Iran’s adherence to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty “would no longer have any meaning”.

Under the NPT, signatory states are obliged to declare their nuclear stockpiles and place them under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in power since July and a supporter of dialogue with Western countries, has said he wants to remove “doubts and ambiguities” about his country’s nuclear programme. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran said on Sunday (November 24, 2024) that it would hold nuclear talks in the coming days with the three European countries that initiated a censure resolution against it adopted by the UN’s atomic watchdog.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting of the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom would take place on Friday, without specifying a venue.

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“A range of regional and international issues and topics, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed,” the spokesman said in a foreign ministry statement.

Mr. Baghaei described the upcoming meeting as a continuation of talks held with the countries in September on the sidelines of the annual session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

On Thursday, the 35-nation board of governors of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution denouncing Iran for what it called a lack of cooperation.

The move came as tensions ran high over Iran’s atomic program, which critics fear is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon — something Tehran has repeatedly denied.

It also came after IAEA head Rafael Grossi returned from a trip to Tehran, where he appeared to have made headway.

During the visit, Iran agreed to an IAEA demand to cap its sensitive stock of near weapons-grade uranium enriched up to 60% purity.

In response to the resolution, Iran announced it was launching a “series of new and advanced centrifuges”.

Centrifuges enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).

“We will substantially increase the enrichment capacity with the utilisation of different types of advanced machines,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran’s atomic energy organisation spokesman, told state TV.

The country, however, also said it planned to continue its “technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA”.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in power since July and a supporter of dialogue with Western countries, has said he wants to remove “doubts and ambiguities” about his country’s nuclear programme.

In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement that saw the easing of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

But the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, which prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.

Tehran has since 2021 decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices monitoring the nuclear programme and barring UN inspectors.

At the same time, it has increased its stockpiles of enriched uranium and the level of enrichment to 60 percent.

That level is close, according to the IAEA, to the 90%-plus threshold required for a nuclear warhead, and substantially higher than the 3.67% limit it agreed to in 2015.

Dubai:

Iran plans to hold talks about its disputed nuclear programme with three European powers on Nov. 29 in Geneva, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, days after the UN atomic watchdog passed a resolution against Tehran.

Iran reacted to the resolution, which was proposed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, with what government officials called various measures such as activating numerous new and advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium.

Kyodo said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government was seeking a solution to the nuclear impasse ahead of the inauguration in January of US President-elect Donald Trump.

A senior Iranian official confirmed that the meeting would go ahead next Friday, adding that “Tehran has always believed that the nuclear issue should be resolved through diplomacy. Iran has never left the talks”.

A spokesperson for the Swiss foreign ministry directed questions to the countries named in the report.

In 2018, the then-Trump administration exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact’s nuclear limits, with moves such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

Indirect talks between President Joe Biden’s administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed, but Trump said in his election campaign in September that “We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal”.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)