Iran said on Monday that it will not resume nuclear talks with the US if negotiations are conditional on halting its uranium enrichment activities, state news agency Irna reported.
Tehran and Washington held several rounds of negotiations aimed at reviving a nuclear deal, but those efforts were derailed after Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran in June, triggering 12 days of war.
Following the ceasefire, both sides signalled interest in returning to the negotiating table. However, Tehran has remained firm that it will not relinquish its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power.
“If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,” Ali Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the news agency.
The remarks came after foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for a meeting between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
“For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,” said Mr Baqaei on Monday.
Mr Araghchi and Mr Witkoff failed to conclude a deal after five rounds of talks that began in April and were the highest-level contact between the two countries since Washington abandoned the nuclear pact, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018. The talks, which were mediated by Oman, took place in Muscat and Rome.
Tensions escalated further after the US joined its ally Israel in limited military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June, deepening mistrust and stalling diplomacy.
“We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round, the Zionist regime, in co-ordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran,” said Mr Baqaei.
In a statement on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran “supports diplomacy and constructive engagement”.
“We continue to believe that the window for diplomacy remains open, and we will seriously pursue this peaceful path.”
Tehran warns against sanctions
Israel and western governments have long accused Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran strongly denies the claim, insisting its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
While it is the only non-nuclear weapons power to enrich uranium to 60 per cent purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the UN's atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication Iran was working to weaponise its stockpiles.
Mr Baqaei said on Monday that Iran would react to any reimposition of UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, without elaborating on what action Tehran might take.
European diplomatic sources had previously told The National that France, Britain and Germany, collectively known as the E3, would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called “snapback mechanism” if no nuclear deal was reached.
Under the terms of a UN resolution ratifying the 2015 nuclear pact, the three European powers have the ability to trigger the mechanism before October 18. This would allow them to reimpose sanctions if they determine that Iran is not complying with the agreement.
“The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mr Baghaei told a press conference.
“The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA,” he added.
“They have failed to fulfil the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism.”
