TEHRAN: A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader said on Monday that Tehran would not oppose negotiations with the United States, provided they are not conditioned on Iran abandoning its uranium enrichment programme, which he described as a “red line” for the Islamic Republic.
“If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,” Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor on international affairs to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
“They say Iran must abandon uranium enrichment, but this is one of our red lines. If talks are conditional on halting enrichment, they simply won’t happen,” Velayati said.
Washington and Tehran had held multiple rounds of negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
However, the talks were disrupted when Israel launched a series of unexpected strikes against its regional rival, triggering 12 days of conflict.
Since the ceasefire, both Iran and the United States have expressed a willingness to resume negotiations, although Tehran has maintained that it will not give up its right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The statement was followed by comments from Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, who clarified that no date has been set for any meeting with the United States.
“For now, no specific date, time, or location has been determined regarding this matter,” Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Araghchi and Witkoff had failed to reach an agreement despite holding five rounds of high-level talks, beginning in April.
These negotiations marked the most significant diplomatic contact between the two countries since the United States withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal in 2018.
The Oman-brokered talks were abruptly halted after Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites on 13 June. The United States later joined its ally, conducting limited strikes of its own.
“We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round, the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran,” Baqaei said.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement on Monday that Iran “supports diplomacy and constructive engagement”.
“We continue to believe that the window for diplomacy remains open, and we will seriously pursue this peaceful path.”
