Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country will not accept to direct nuclear talks with the United States while President Donald Trump persists with his hard policy against the Islamic Republic.
His remarks occurred one day after Washington announced new sanctions against Tehran to target more than 30 ships and persons, including the chief of the National Oil Company, accused of participation in the negotiation of the sale and the Iranian oil shipment.
The sanctions were the last to be imposed since US President Donald Trump restored his “maximum pressure” policy towards Iran, resuming his approach during his first mandate.
“There will be no possibility of direct talks between us and the United States on the nuclear issue as long as the maximum pressure is applied in this way,” said Araghchi at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart on Visit Sergei Lavrov.
“Regarding nuclear negotiations, the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very clear. We will not negotiate under pressure, threat or sanctions. »»
Lavrov arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for interviews with Araghchi and other senior officials on a range of subjects, including bilateral relations, regional developments and the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the great powers.
During the first term of Trump, which ended in 2021, Washington withdrew from the historic agreement which had imposed borders on the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for relief of the sanctions.
On Monday, Iran organized a new series of talks with Germany, France and Great Britain about its nuclear program after having revived the commitment with the trio, known as the E3, at the end of last year.
Araghchi said he had informed Lavrov about the latest discussions.
“On the nuclear issue, we will move forward with the cooperation and coordination of our friends in Russia and China,” he added.
Russia is also faced with sanctions about its war in Ukraine, Moscow and Tehran have intensified their cooperation in recent years.
Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Iran of providing weapons to Russia to use in the war – Iran’s allegations have denied several times.
During a visit to Moscow in January, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a strategic partnership with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin who underpins their economic and military cooperation.
Iran and Russia underwent a major setback in Syria in December, when the rebels led by the Islamists overthrew their longtime ally Bashar al-Assad after the two governments invested massively to support him more than a decade of civil war.
Araghchi said the positions of Iran and Russia on Syria remain “very close”.
“Iran wants peace, stability, preservation of territorial integrity and unity, and the progress of Syria according to the will of the people,” he said.
Lavrov, for his part, said: “We will do our best to ensure that the situation calms down and does not constitute a threat to the Syrian people … or to the people of neighboring states”.
The Russian diplomat’s visit occurs a week after meeting his American counterpart Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia to discuss the war in Ukraine.
On Monday, the United States rose to the side of Russia in two voices in New York, refusing to condemn its invasion of Ukraine and to report a seismic change while Trump expresses a radically new position on war.
“Yesterday’s event at the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council has shown a very important thing: the understanding that the approach aimed at eliminating the deep causes of the crisis has no alternative,” Lavrov told Tehran.
