DUBAI – Iran is willing to end an impasse over a range of issues with the UN nuclear agency on its atomic programme, but it will not succumb to pressure, its foreign minister said after meeting the watchdog’s chief in Tehran on Nov 14.
“The ball is in the EU/E3 court,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, referring to three European countries – France, Britain and Germany – which represent the West alongside the US at nuclear talks.
The social media post followed the foreign minister’s talks with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi.
“Willing to negotiate based on our national interest and inalienable rights, but not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation,” said Mr Araghchi.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would send a message to the three European powers through Mr Grossi about Tehran’s seriousness to resolve its nuclear stand-off, while stressing that any pressure on Tehran would have the opposite effect.
Diplomats told Reuters on Nov 13 that Britain, France and Germany are pushing for a new resolution against Iran by the IAEA board next week to pressure Tehran over what they view as its poor cooperation.
Mr Grossi, in a televised joint press conference with Iran’s nuclear chief, urged Tehran to take steps to resolve the remaining issues.
“It is in our power here to take concrete steps that will indicate clearly, to the US and the international community, that we can clarify things and move forward with concrete solutions,” he said.
Mr Grossi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since he was elected in July. The President told Mr Grossi that Tehran was prepared to cooperate with the IAEA to clear up “alleged ambiguities” about Tehran’s nuclear work.
Trump’s return to office as US president in January upends nuclear diplomacy with Iran, which had stalled under the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden after months of indirect talks.
During Trump’s previous tenure, Washington ditched a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear work in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
On Nov 12, Mr Pezeshkian, seen as relatively moderate, said Tehran would not be able to ignore its arch-foe, the US, and needs to “handle its enemies with forbearance”.
Trump has not fully spelt out whether he will continue his “maximum pressure” policy on Iran when he takes office.
Soured relations
Relations between Tehran and the IAEA have soured over several longstanding issues, including Iran barring the agency’s uranium enrichment experts from the country and its failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
In August, the agency said Iran’s production of highly enriched uranium continues, and that the country has not improved cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, despite a resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors in June.
The resolution called on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog and reverse its recent barring of inspectors.
Mr Grossi, who has long sought progress with Tehran over its fast-advancing nuclear work, said: “Inspections are just one chapter of our cooperation and cannot be discussed.”
The US withdrawal from the nuclear pact in 2018 and the reimposition of sanctions prompted Tehran to violate limitations on its uranium enrichment – seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear weapons capability.
Tehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, close to the roughly 90 per cent required for a nuclear bomb. Tehran says its nuclear work is purely for peaceful purposes.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Nov 13 that Tehran’s reaction to a resolution could be to limit diplomatic and technical cooperation with the IAEA.
On Nov 15, Mr Grossi is scheduled to visit Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant and its Fordow site, which is dug into a mountain. REUTERS