Iran says right to enrich uranium is a red line in talks with US
Talks with the US will not succeed without a recognition of Iran's right to enrich uranium, the Iranian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
Speaking after indirect negotiations took place in Oman's capital, Muscat, on Friday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the issue would be a red line in further talks.
"Zero enrichment can never be accepted by us. Hence, we need to focus on discussions that accept enrichment inside Iran while building trust that enrichment is and will stay for peaceful purposes," he said.
A regional diplomat briefed by Iran told Reuters on Friday that Tehran was open to discussing the "level and purity" of enrichment as well as other arrangements.
"Iran's insistence on enrichment is not merely technical or economic... it is rooted in a desire for independence and dignity," Araghchi said.
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"No one has the right to tell the Iranian nation what it should or should not have."
After weeks of escalating rhetoric, tensions are unlikely to ease quickly.
Moments after the indirect talks concluded, Washington announced new sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's oil exports, including targeting 14 vessels flagged in countries such as Turkey, India and the United Arab Emirates. It also announced sanctions on 15 entities and two people.
US aircraft carriers, meanwhile, remain positioned off Iran’s coastal waters, with US Central Command releasing footage showing the Nimitz-class USS Abraham Lincoln conducting a replenishment operation in the Arabian Sea.
On Thursday, Iran’s army spokesperson, Brigadier-General Mohammad Akraminia, said the military was ready for war. He warned that any conflict would “encompass the entire region and all US bases” if that was what Washington wanted.
US President Donald Trump has previously warned that “bad things” would likely happen if a deal could not be reached.
Meanwhile, the virtual US embassy in Iran issued an alert early on Friday urging American citizens to “leave Iran now”.
Israel's Channel 12 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee there was “a build-up of conditions toward a critical mass that could bring about the downfall of the Iranian regime".
Iran has warned that it is prepared for regional conflict if its conditions for the negotiation framework are rejected, the report added.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post on Sunday that the talks were a "step forward", but stressed that Iran’s rights under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must be respected.
Araghchi said the date and venue of the next round of talks would be determined in consultation with Oman.
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