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DUBAI, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said he will meet the UN nuclear watchdog chief on Monday, ahead of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks to tackle their dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme and avert conflict as U.S. warships deploy to the Middle East.
The two sides held indirect talks earlier this month in Oman.
“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal. What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said on X.
While Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues like Iran’s missile stockpile, Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and won’t accept zero uranium enrichment.
TEHRAN SEEKS SANCTIONS RELIEF
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signalled Iran’s readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on Sunday that the ball was “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal.”
The U.S. has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters. Iran’s civil defence organisation on Monday held a chemical defence drill in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone to strengthen preparedness for potential chemical incidents in the energy hub located in southern Iran.
Prior to the U.S. joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran-U.S. nuclear talks had stalled over Washington’s demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the U.S. views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes and is ready to assuage concerns regarding nuclear weapons by “building trust that enrichment is and will stay for peaceful purposes.”
Araqchi said he will meet International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi on Monday accompanied by nuclear experts “for deep technical discussions.”
IAEA SEEKS CLARITY ON ENRICHED URANIUM
The IAEA has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to its stockpile of 440 kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium following Israeli-U.S. strikes and let inspections fully resume, including in three key sites that were bombed in June last year: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he told U.S. President Donald Trump last week that any U.S. deal with Iran must include the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, not just stopping the enrichment process.
Netanyahu said he is sceptical of a deal but it must include enriched material leaving Iran. “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,” he said.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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