FM Araghchi says Tehran has explained stance on Trump\u2019s letter, current situation in official response letter
\n Tehran
\nIran has sent a response to a letter from US President Donald Trump that called for nuclear talks and warned of possible military action if it refuses, its foreign minister said Thursday.
\n\u201cThis official response includes a letter in which our position regarding the current situation and Mr Trump\u2019s letter has been fully explained to the other party,\u201d Abbas Araghchi told the official IRNA news agency.
\nHe added that the letter was delivered to Oman, which has served as an intermediary in the past in the absence of US-Iranian diplomatic relations. He did not disclose the nature of the response nor say when it had been sent.
\nUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked by reporters on his plane over the Caribbean whether the United States has received the letter, said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on that yet\u201d.
\nHe said that the United States had expected there to be a response and \u201cobviously at that point, the president will decide what steps if he any he wants to take next\u201d.
\nTrump, who in 2018 pulled the United States out of an agreement to relieve sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, now says he is open to diplomatic talks.
\nThe US president revealed at the start of March that he had sent a letter to Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
\nAt the same time, Trump has pushed ahead with his \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d programme of additional sanctions on Tehran and the threat of military action if it refuses to negotiate.
\n\u201cOur policy remains not to negotiate directly (with Washington) under \u2018maximum pressure\u2019 and the threat of military action, but indirect negotiations, such as those that took place in the past, can continue,\u201d Araghchi said.
\nIntermediaries
\nIran and the United States have not had official diplomatic relations since 1980.
\nHowever, the two countries have engaged indirectly via the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests in Iran.
\nOman has also played the role of mediator in the past, as has Qatar, to a lesser extent. Trump\u2019s letter was delivered to Iran by the United Arab Emirates. Iran agreed to the deal curbing its nuclear programme in 2015 after negotiations with major powers, including the United States and China.
\nWestern governments have for decades suspected that Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, a charge that Iran denies, insisting that the programme is solely for civilian purposes.
\nIran continued to respect the deal for a year after Trump pulled out, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, before rolling back its commitments.
\nThe US decision to withdraw was driven in part by Iran\u2019s ballistic missile programme, which was not covered by the deal and which Washington perceived as a threat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FM Araghchi says Tehran has explained stance on Trump\u2019s letter, current situation in official response letter Tehran Iran has sent a response to a letter from US President Donald Trump that called for nuclear talks and warned of possible military action if it refuses, its foreign minister said Thursday. \u201cThis official response includes a letter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-469820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n