Iran is after a nuclear agreement with the US that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official was reported as saying on Sunday, days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington.
Iran and the US renewed negotiations this month to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme and avert a new military confrontation. The US has sent a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, US officials told Reuters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that President Donald Trump had made it clear he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated settlement, while making clear that it may not happen.
"No one's ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran but we're going to try," Mr Rubio said at a news conference in the Slovakian capital Bratislava.
Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the Middle East if it is attacked by US forces but on Sunday took a conciliatory line.
"For the sake of an agreement's durability, it is essential that the US also benefits in areas with high and quick economic returns," Foreign Ministry deputy director for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
"Common interests in the oil and gas fields, joint fields, mining investments, and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations."
Mr Ghanbari said the 2015 nuclear pact with world powers had not secured US economic interests.
In 2018, Mr Trump withdrew the US from the pact that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, and reapplied tough economic sanctions.
A US attempt to negotiate a new deal last year was derailed when Israel launched air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites during a 12-day war in June, and the US joined in by bombing three centres on the final day before Mr Trump announced a ceasefire.
The talks resumed on February 6 in Muscat, with Oman acting as mediator, as Mr Trump warned Iran of possible strikes if a deal was not reached. US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were again leading the negotiating teams for their countries, with Mr Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also taking part.
"Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be travelling, I think they are travelling right now, to have important meetings and we'll see how that turns out," Mr Rubio said on Sunday, without providing further details.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said Mr Araghchi had left for Geneva to take part in the talks and would also meet the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency – the UN's nuclear watchdog – and other officials.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC on Sunday that the ball was "in America's court to prove that they want to do a deal".
He referred to a statement by Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, that the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran's flexibility.
However, Mr Takht-Ravanchi insisted that Tehran would not accept no uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in past negotiations, with Washington viewing enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran denies seeking such weapons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told Mr Trump during their meeting in Washington on Wednesday that any deal with Iran must include the dismantling of its nuclear infrastructure, not just stopping the enrichment process.
"There shall be no enrichment capability – not stopping the enrichment process, but dismantling the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place," Mr Netanyahu said in Jerusalem on Sunday at an annual meeting of heads of American Jewish organisations.
