Iran says potential energy, mining and aircraft deals on table in talks with US

TEHRAN - Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the US that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Feb 15, days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington.

Iran and the US

renewed negotiations

earlier in January to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme and avert a new military confrontation.

The US has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the

possibility of a sustained military campaign

if the talks do not succeed, US officials have told Reuters.

“For the sake of an agreement’s durability, it is essential that the US also benefits in areas with high and quick economic returns,” foreign ministry deputy director for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran has threatened retaliation against any US attack but the official struck a conciliatory note on Feb 15.

“Common interests in the oil and gas fields, joint fields, mining investments, and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations,” Mr Ghanbari said, arguing that the 2015 nuclear pact with world powers had not secured US economic interests.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, said President Donald Trump had made it clear that he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated settlement.

“No one’s ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran but we’re going to try,” Mr Rubio said.

In 2018, Mr Trump

withdrew the US from the pact

that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, and re-applied tough economic sanctions on Tehran.

On Feb 13, a source told Reuters that a US delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner,

would meet Iranian officials in Geneva

on Feb 17, a meeting later confirmed to Reuters by a senior Iranian official on Feb 15.

“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be travelling, I think they are travelling right now, to have important meetings and we’ll see how that turns out,” Mr Rubio said, without providing further details.

While talks leading to the 2015 nuclear pact were multilateral, the current negotiations are confined to Iran and the US, with Oman acting as mediator.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi left Tehran for Geneva to take part in the indirect nuclear talks with the US and meet the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, and others, his ministry said.

Open to compromise

Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signalled Iran’s readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on Feb 15 that the ball was “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal”.

The senior official referred to the Iranian atomic chief’s statement on Feb 16 that the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran’s flexibility.

However, he reiterated that Tehran would not accept zero uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in past negotiations, with Washington viewing enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran denies seeking such weapons.

In June, the US

joined Israel in a series of air strikes

that targeted Iranian nuclear sites.

The US is also stepping up economic pressure on Iran. At a

White House meeting earlier this week

, Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that the US would work to reduce Iran’s oil exports to China, Axios reported on Feb 14.

China accounts for more than 80 per cent of Iran’s oil exports so any reduction in that trade would significantly lower Iran’s oil revenue. REUTERS