DUBAI
\nIran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear programme but won\u2019t succumb to pressure, its foreign minister told the U.N. nuclear watchdog head on Thursday, as European countries push for diplomacy before Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House.
\n\u201cThe ball is in the EU\/E3 court,\u201d Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X following talks in Tehran with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, referring to three European countries – France, Britain and Germany – which represent the West alongside the United States at nuclear talks.
\n\u201cWilling to negotiate based on our national interest and inalienable rights, but not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation,\u201d Iranian state media quoted Araqchi as saying. \u201cI hope the other side will adopt a rational policy.\u201d
\nA senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would send a message to the three European powers through Grossi about Tehran\u2019s seriousness to resolve its nuclear standoff, while stressing that any pressure on Tehran would have the opposite effect.
\nDiplomats told Reuters on Wednesday that Britain, France and Germany are pushing for a new resolution against Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency board next week to pressure Tehran over what they view as its poor cooperation.
\nGrossi, in a televised joint press conference with Iran\u2019s nuclear chief, urged Tehran to take steps to resolve the remaining issues.
\n\u201cIt is in our power here to take concrete steps that will indicate clearly, to the U.S. and the international community, that we can clarify things and move forward with concrete solutions,\u201d Grossi said.
\nGrossi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since Pezeshkian was elected in July. The president told Grossi that Tehran was prepared to cooperate with the IAEA to clear up \u201calleged ambiguities\u201d about Tehran\u2019s nuclear work, state media reported.
\nTrump\u2019s return to office as U.S. president in January upends nuclear diplomacy with Iran, which had stalled under the outgoing administration of Joe Biden after months of indirect talks.
\nDuring Trump\u2019s previous tenure, Washington ditched a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that curbed Tehran\u2019s nuclear work in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
\nOn Tuesday, Pezeshkian, seen as relatively moderate, said Tehran would not be able to ignore its arch-foe the United States and needs to \u201chandle its enemies with forbearance\u201d.
\nTrump has not fully spelled out whether he will continue his \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d policy on Iran when he takes office.
\nSOURED RELATIONS
\nRelations between Tehran and the IAEA have soured over several long-standing issues including Iran barring the agency\u2019s uranium-enrichment experts from the country and its failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
\nIn August, the agency said Iran\u2019s production of highly enriched uranium continues and it has not improved cooperation with it, despite a resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors in June.
\nGrossi, who has long sought progress with Tehran over its fast-advancing nuclear work, said: \u201cInspections are just one chapter of our cooperation and cannot be discussed.\u201d
\nThe U.S. 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.
\nTehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, close to the roughly 90% required for an atom bomb. Tehran says its nuclear work is purely for peaceful purposes.
\nA senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran\u2019s reaction to a resolution could be to limit diplomatic and technical cooperation with the IAEA.
\nOn Friday Grossi is scheduled to visit Iran\u2019s Natanz nuclear plant and its Fordow site, which is dug into a mountain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Iran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear programme but won\u2019t succumb to pressure, its foreign minister told the U.N. nuclear watchdog head on Thursday, as European countries push for diplomacy before Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House. \u201cThe ball is in the EU\/E3 court,\u201d Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-443656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n