Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar for consultations in the run-up to the fourth round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States, which will take place in Oman on Sunday.
The future direction of Iran’s nuclear programme, its enrichment of uranium, and sanctions relief remain the key issues.
Speaking later Saturday in Doha, Araghchi said that if the US’s goal is to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights, Tehran will not back down from “any of our rights”.
Iran insists its programme is for civilian purposes and it has no intention to pursue a nuclear weapon.
Araghchi told Al Jazeera in Doha, “I have always said that if the… purpose of a deal is to …ensure that Iran would never have [a] nuclear weapon that is already granted… and a deal would be at our reach”.
“But if there are unrealistic…demands by the other side, then we are going to have problems”, he said.
In an interview with Breitbart News on Friday, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who will attend the talks in Oman, said the US would “take [Iran] at their word” that they do not want nuclear weapons, but set out specific conditions for verifying such a position.”
“If that’s how they feel, then their enrichment facilities have to be dismantled. They cannot have centrifuges. They have to downblend all of their fuel that they have there and send it to a faraway place — and they have to convert to a civil programme if they want to run a civil programme,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has raised the possibility of Iran importing enriched uranium for any civilian energy.
Araqhchi’s Gulf tour on Saturday came after Tehran confirmed the latest round Friday: “The negotiations are moving forward, and naturally, the further we go, the more consultations and reviews are needed,” Araghchi said in remarks carried by Iranian state media.
Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said on Friday that, after “coordination with both Iran and the US”, the delayed talks would go ahead in Muscat. The fourth round, initially scheduled for May 3 in Rome, was postponed for what Oman described as “logistical reasons”.
Ongoing dispute over nuclear programme
The talks come against the backdrop of a long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The meeting is the latest effort to revive diplomacy after years of rising tensions.
Successive US administrations have sought to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A sustained effort by world powers during the Barack Obama administration culminated in a 2015 agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The multilateral agreement created a framework for Iran to receive much-needed relief from international sanctions, in exchange for reducing its uranium enrichment and submitting to inspections of its nuclear facilities.
But when Trump succeeded Obama as US president, he unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement in 2018, causing the deal to crumble.
Some Western countries argue that Iran’s programme, accelerated after the US walkout from the 2015 accord, is aimed at developing weapons. Tehran maintains that its nuclear activity is entirely civilian.
Trump himself has acknowledged tensions in his policy on Iran, saying at the start of his second term that hawkish advisors were pushing him to step up pressure reluctantly.
In an interview on Thursday, Trump said he wanted “total verification” that Iran’s contested nuclear work is shut down, but through diplomacy.
“I’d much rather make a deal” than see military action, Trump told the conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.
“There are only two alternatives – blow ’em up nicely or blow ’em up viciously,” Trump said.
Iran’s Gulf outreach
Araqchi’s trips to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Saturday are part of what he describes as “continuous consultations” with neighbouring states.
He said the visits aimed to address “concerns and mutual interests” regarding the nuclear issue.
Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Iran is regularly in contact with Saudi Arabia, but the purpose of this visit was “to consult with our Saudi colleagues, especially on Iran-US talks”.
“We want to make sure that you know everybody’s on board, and there would be no concern …So I hope that when we come to a deal”, he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei confirmed the presence of a technical delegation in the talks in Oman on Saturday.
Source: Al Jazeera and AFP