- Tehran is ready to discuss issues related to its nuclear program, said Iranian deputy foreign minister
- The minister made it clear that sanctions against Iran will also have to be on the negotiating table
- Oman would host a second round of talks over Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva next week
Iran is ready to discuss issues related to its nuclear programme, but then the sanctions against it will also have to be on the table, an Iranian minister said, adding that "the ball is in America's court".
"We are ready to discuss issues related to our programme provided that they are also ready to talk about sanctions. Those sanctions also have to be on the table. One cannot accept the notion that Iran has to do certain things without the other side committing itself to do their share," Iran deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told BBC in an interview.
On February 6, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks in Oman with US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's influential son-in-law Jared Kushner. The talks were indirect, with the Omanis acting as mediators.
On Sunday, a Swiss foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that Oman would host a second round of talks over Tehran's nuclear programme in Geneva next week, without providing further details.
Switzerland has played a key role in diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States for decades. Renowned for its neutrality, Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since Washington broke off relations with Tehran after the 1980 hostage crisis, a year after the Iranian revolution. In its role as the so-called protecting power, Switzerland has for decades allowed the two feuding nations to maintain a minimum of diplomatic and consular relations
"The ball is in America's court. They have to prove that they want to have a deal with us and if there is a sincerity, if we see a sincerity on their part, I am sure we will be on a road to have an agreement," the senior minister, who is playing a key role in the current talks as he did in the negotiations more than a decade ago, said.
When asked if he is optimistic that a deal can be reached, the Iranian minister said,"It is too early to say whether we will reach an agreement. After one round, one cannot say for sure, bearing in mind the fact that we experienced a war in the middle of negotiations. So one meeting is not enough to assure us that the other side is serious."
Similar talks last year broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the US bombing Iranian nuclear sites.
It has left Tehran with little trust in this process. Iran is known to have been dismayed by the lack of progress in last year's talks, with Witkoff understood to have often attended without experts on what is a highly technical matter.
Questioned if the increasing American military build-up in the region will be an existential threat for Iran, the minister said, "It will be traumatic."
When the reporter pressed on the existential question, the Iranian minister said,"It will be bad for everybody. It is not as if only Iran will suffer, everybody will suffer. Particularly those who have initiated this aggression. If we feel that this is an existential threat, we will respond accordingly."
After the first discussions, Trump warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be "very traumatic."
Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear programme. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own.
Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict.
Trump had said on Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen", as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on Tehran.
He had earlier threatened military intervention to support a wave of protests in Iran that peaked in January and were met by a violent crackdown that rights groups say killed thousands.
When Iran began its crackdown, Trump initially said the United States was "locked and loaded" to help demonstrators. But he has more recently focused his military threats on Tehran's nuclear programme.
The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any deal. Tehran says it won't agree to that.
Iran has insisted its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his nation is "ready for any kind of verification." However, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran's nuclear stockpile.
Trump has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to scale back its nuclear programme. Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear programme.
