TEHRAN
\nIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the visiting head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday that his government was willing to resolve doubts about its atomic programme, ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s arrival in office.
\nInternational Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said achieving \u201cresults\u201d in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to avoid a new conflict in the region already inflamed by Israel\u2019s war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
\nHis visit comes just days after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Iran was \u201cmore exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities\u201d giving Israel \u201cthe opportunity to achieve our most important goal\u201d.
\n\u201cAs we have repeatedly proven our goodwill, we announce our readiness to cooperate and converge with this international organisation to resolve the alleged ambiguities and doubts about the peaceful nuclear activity of our country,\u201d Pezeshkian told Grossi.
\nTrump, a hawk on Iran, is expected to give Israel a far freer rein after he takes office in January.
\nIn Tehran, Grossi said Iranian nuclear installations \u201cshould not be attacked\u201d.
\nForeign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who also met with Grossi, said Iran was \u201cwilling to negotiate\u201d based on the \u201cnational interest\u201d and \u201cinalienable rights,\u201d but was not \u201cready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation\u201d.
\nAraghchi was Iran\u2019s chief negotiator in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, abandoned three years later by Trump.
\nGrossi also met the head of Iran\u2019s atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Eslami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the visiting head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday that his government was willing to resolve doubts about its atomic programme, ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s arrival in office. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said achieving \u201cresults\u201d in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-443873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n