Iran’s Khamenei slams ‘outrageous’ US demands in nuclear talks
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Washington should avoid making “nonsense” demands in the negotiations.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DUBAI - Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said US demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are “excessive and outrageous”, state media reported, voicing doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed.
“I don’t think nuclear talks with the US will bring results. I don’t know what will happen,” the supreme leader said, adding that Washington should avoid making “nonsense” demands in the negotiations, of which four rounds have been held.
“A date has been suggested, but we have not yet accepted it,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state media on May 20 when asked about a fifth round of talks, which an Iranian official said on May 19 might be held this weekend in Rome.
“We are witnessing positions on the US side that do not go along with any logic and are creating problems for the negotiations. That’s why we have not determined the next round of talks, we are reviewing the matter and hope logic will prevail,” the minister added.
The talks on a new nuclear deal
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on May 19 that the talks would fail if Washington insists that Tehran refrain from domestic enrichment of uranium, which the US says is a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear energy programme has entirely peaceful purposes.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said Tehran needed to “move quickly or something bad is going to happen” after being given a proposal for a deal. The Islamic Republic maintains that it has not received any written proposal from Washington.
Mr Trump has repeatedly warned Iran it would be bombed and face severe sanctions if it did not reach a compromise to resolve its long-disputed nuclear energy programme.
During his first term as president from 2017 to 2021, Mr Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s enrichment activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Mr Trump, who branded the now moribund 2015 accord one-sided in Iran’s favour, also reimposed sweeping US sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic responded by escalating enrichment. REUTERS
