Talks with US possible but only on ‘equal terms’, top Iranian diplomat says

DUBAI - Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has not ruled out talks with Washington, but says they can only take place if both countries are on “equal terms”, an Iranian state-run newspaper reported on March 13.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said he had

sent a letter

to Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing nuclear talks, but also warned that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal”.

“If we enter negotiations while the other side is imposing maximum pressure, we will be negotiating from a weak position and will achieve nothing,” Mr Araqchi told the Iran paper in an interview.

“The other side must be convinced that the policy of pressure is ineffective – only then can we sit at the negotiating table on equal terms.”

Mr Khamenei said on March 12 that talks with the Trump administration would simply “tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran”.

In 2018, under Mr Trump’s first presidency, the US withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.

Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal’s nuclear curbs.

Mr Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, said last week that

Tehran would not be bullied into talks.

While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Mr Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero. REUTERS