“In addressing the talks regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, our U.S. interlocutors are naturally free to publicly state whatever they deem fit to ward off Special Interest groups; malign actors which set the agendas of at least previous Administrations,” the top Iranian negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a lengthy post on X in apparent reference to the lead US negotiator Steve Witkoff, who had said in an interview with ABC News earlier on Sunday that “We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability.”
“Iran can only control what we Iranians do, and that is to avoid negotiating in public—particularly given the current dissonance we are seeing between what our U.S. interlocutors say in public and in private, and from one week to the other,” he added, in an apparent reference to the contradictory US officials’ remarks.
“Our stance on Iran’s rights as a NPT member is crystal clear, and there is no scenario in which Iranians will permit deviance from that. Mastering enrichment technology is a hard-earned and homegrown scientific achievement; an outcome of great sacrifice of both blood and treasure,” the Iranian negotiator further underscored.
“If the U.S. is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome. Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal,” he concluded.
The Iranian and US delegations have held four rounds of indirect talks on Tehran’s nuclear program and the lifting of US sanctions in the Omani capital Muscat and Italy’s Rome.
Meanwhile, Iran and three European countries — France, Germany and Britain, collectively known as the E3 — held a high-level meeting in Türkiye’s Istanbul on Friday on the latest developments in the Iran-US indirect talks, the sixth round of such talks between Iran and the E3 since September 2024, which have covered Tehran’s nuclear program and the removal of sanctions, among other issues.
KI
