Iran is prepared to renew indirect nuclear talks immediately if “other parties are willing” to do so, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed on Monday, speaking from the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
“I will stay in New York for a few more days than the [Iranian] president and will have more meetings with various foreign ministers. We will focus our efforts on starting a new round of talks regarding the nuclear pact,” Araghchi said in a statement published on his Telegram channel.
Araghchi announced that the Islamic Republic sent messages to the United States via Switzerland and issued a “general declaration of readiness,” but warned that the “international conditions make the resumption of talks more complicated and difficult than before.”
Iran’s top diplomat also declared he would not meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying the new government in Tehran is “still a long way from holding direct talks” with Biden administration officials.
“I do not believe it would be expedient to hold such a dialogue,” he stated in the video, the Reuters agency reported. “There were such meetings before but there is currently no suitable ground for that.”
Araghchi is currently in the U.S. for the 79th Session of the U.N. General Assembly, which opened two weeks ago and will conclude on Sept. 10.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi told Reuters on Tuesday that he sensed a “willingness to re-engage with us in a more meaningful fashion” and that he hopes to visit Tehran next month, speaking after a meeting with Araghchi on the sidelines of the UNGA.
“Of course now we have to give content and substance to this because we are not starting from zero. We have had [a] relatively protracted process without replies to some of the questions we have,” he stated.
According to Grossi, “We also need to calibrate together with them how we go through this period where they are waiting to see what is going to happen with their other partners, starting with the United States.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that, in the wake of Tehran’s April 13 drone and missile attack on Israel, the Islamic Republic was trying to restart talks with Washington on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The 2015 JCPOA agreement saw the Iranian government agree to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The deal was short-lived, as former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, citing concerns over its effectiveness.
Since that collapse, Iran has steadily moved away from limits on its nuclear program, raising alarm bells in the international community.
Iran has continued to step up uranium enrichment in recent months, while arguing that its nuclear program is peaceful. Tehran’s stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium has increased by at least 20.6 kilograms (45.5 pounds) since February, AFP reported on May 27, citing an IAEA report.
The confidential document, which was also seen by the Associated Press, revealed that Tehran had accumulated at least 142.1 kilograms (313.2 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%. This level of enrichment is just a technical step from 90% enrichment, considered weapons-grade.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency definition, it is technically possible to create a bomb with 42 kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% if the material is further enriched to 90%.
Iran has also threatened a push towards the nuclear bomb. On May 9, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Iran would weaponize its nuclear program if Israel “threatens its existence.”
Also in May, a lawmaker affiliated with the Islamist regime suggested that Iran might already possess an atomic bomb, saying: “In my opinion, we have achieved nuclear weapons, but we do not announce it.”
An expansion underway at the Fordow enrichment plant could allow Iran to accumulate several bombs’ worth of nuclear fuel every month, The Washington Post reported in June, citing confidential documents.
While Tehran has restricted the IAEA’s ability to monitor its nuclear program, inspectors witnessed technicians installing advanced IR-6 centrifuges, per a confidential file shared with the agency’s members.
Last week, Araghchi vowed to keep up Tehran’s “unlimited support” for terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, including in the Gaza Strip.
Some 500 terrorists affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad trained in Iran ahead of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, The Wall Street Journal reported last year. Iran has officially hailed the attacks as a “success.”