Tehran, March 13 (IANS) Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi received a letter from US President Donald Trump on nuclear negotiations, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The letter, which reportedly calls for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, was handed over to Araghchi by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the presence of some other Iranian officials, Xinhua news agency reported quoting Fars.
According to a report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Araghchi said earlier on Wednesday that Iran had always been ready to hold negotiations over its nuclear issue on equal terms.
Iran previously held talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal, and is continuing dialogue in that regard, Araghchi said, noting that it is the US that withdrew from the deal.
Iran is holding talks with France, Britain and Germany on a number of issues, including the nuclear one, and a new round of talks will start soon, he said, adding that the country is holding negotiations with other international stakeholders concurrently.
Araghchi said that Iran’s nuclear program operates within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that it is completely dynamic and making progress.
In an interview with Fox Business Network on Friday, Trump said he wanted to negotiate with Iran on the nuclear issue and had sent a letter to the country’s leadership.
Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with six major countries — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the US — in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
However, during Trump’s first term of office, the US withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments.
Efforts to revive the nuclear deal have not achieved substantial progress. Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that the country would not negotiate with the US under pressure and sanctions.
–IANS
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