[🇮🇷] Iran & the USA Relationship

Iran says it could survive if US nuclear talks end without a deal

REUTERS
Published :
May 26, 2025 16:55
Updated :
May 26, 2025 16:56


Members of the Iranian delegation leave the Omani embassy, where the fifth round of US-Iran talks takes place, in Rome, Italy, May 23, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Iran would be able to survive if negotiations with the US over its nuclear programme fail to secure a deal, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, after President Donald Trump described weekend talks with Tehran as “very good”.

The negotiations aim to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Trump has threatened Iran with crippling economic sanctions and bombing if no new nuclear agreement is reached.

“It’s not like we will die of hunger if they refuse to negotiate with us or impose sanctions,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by state media about the talks with Washington. “We will find a way to survive.”

The stakes are high for both sides in the talks.

Trump wants to curtail Tehran’s potential to produce a nuclear weapon that could trigger a regional nuclear arms race and perhaps threaten Israel. Iran, for its part, maintains that its nuclear programme is exclusively for civilian purposes and wants to be rid of devastating sanctions on its oil-based economy.

Iranian and US delegations wrapped up a fifth round of talks in Rome last week and, while signs of some limited progress emerged, there are many points of disagreement that are hard to breach, notably the issue of Iran’s uranium enrichment.

Asked about reports that Iran could freeze enrichment for three years to reach an agreement, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told a press conference: “Iran will never accept that.”

Baghaei also ruled out the possibility of an interim nuclear deal with the US, dismissing media reports that a provisional agreement was being considered as a temporary step towards a final deal.

Iran is waiting for further details from mediator Oman regarding the timing of the sixth round of talks, Baghaei said.

“If there is goodwill from the American side, we are also optimistic, but if negotiations are aimed at curbing Iran’s rights then talks will get nowhere,” he added.​

Iran rejects push to suspend uranium enrichment to reach US deal
AFP Tehran
Published: 26 May 2025, 20: 12


A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on 3 July 2019 shows president Hassan Rouhani chairing a cabinet meeting in the capital Tehran. Rouhani said Iran will exceed the uranium enrichment limit it agreed in a 2015 deal with major powers, raising it as much as necessary. AFP file photo

Iran on Monday ruled out suspending uranium enrichment as part of any nuclear deal with the United States -- a key demand from Washington in successive rounds of talks between the foes.

The issue has come into focus in recent weeks, with Iran staunchly defending its right to enrich uranium as part of what it says is a civilian nuclear programme, while the United States wants it to stop.

The negotiations, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the two sides since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during US President Donald Trump's first term.

Trump described the latest round of discussions in Rome as "very, very good", while Iran's foreign minister described it as "complicated".

Since returning to office, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign on the Islamic republic, backing diplomacy but warning of military action if it fails.

Tehran wants a new deal that would ease sanctions battering its economy.

Western governments and Israel suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons -- a charge it strongly denies.

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading the talks for Washington, said the United States "could not authorise even one percent" of enrichment by Iran.

'Totally false'

On Monday, Iran ruled out suspending its uranium enrichment.

"This information is a figment of the imagination and totally false," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, asked about the possibility during a press briefing in Tehran.

Iran insists it has the right to a civilian nuclear programme, including for energy, and considers the US demand a red line that violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.

Following the latest round of Omani-mediated talks in Rome, Iran's foreign minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi downplayed the progress, stressing "the negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings".

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the fifth round concluded "with some but not conclusive progress", adding he hoped "the remaining issues" would be clarified in the coming days.

But on Sunday Trump said the ongoing discussions had been "very, very good".

"I think we could have some good news on the Iran front," he said, adding that an announcement could come "over the next two days."

No date has yet been set for the next talks, according to Iran's foreign ministry.

The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, during which Iran's nuclear activities will be reviewed.

They also come before the October expiry of the 2015 accord, which aimed to allay US and European Union suspicions that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has consistently denied.

Iran has ramped up its nuclear activities since the collapse of the 2015 deal, and is now enriching uranium to 60 percent -- far above the deal's 3.67 per cent cap but below the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.

Experts say that uranium enriched beyond 20 per cent can be further enriched to a weapons-grade level quickly.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to visit Oman this week.​

Iran president in Oman as nuclear talks progress
Agence France-Presse . Muscat, Oman 27 May, 2025, 23:02

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday began a two-day visit to Oman, which is mediating on-going nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.

Pezeshkian travelled Muscat looking to promote ‘peace and stability’, he said, two days after US president Donald Trump described the latest negotiations as ‘very, very good’.

‘We hope to engage in dialogue to reach a shared perspective and a common voice on promoting peace and stability in the region,’ Pezeshkian said in a televised speech before departure.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed on Monday that the visit would address the on-going nuclear talks.

Oman, Iran’s neighbour across a narrow strip of sea, has since April facilitated five rounds of talks between Tehran and Washington, which do not have diplomatic relations.

Although the latest meetings in Rome on Friday ended without tangible progress, they were warmly received by Trump.

‘I think we could have some good news on the Iran front,’ the US president said, adding that an announcement could come ‘over the next two days’.

The US is seeking to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons — which Tehran denies seeking — as the Iranians seek relief from crippling sanctions.

The talks are the highest-level contact between the countries since the US quit a previous nuclear accord during Trump’s first term.

Ahead of Pezeshkian’s visit, Iran’s central bank governor Mohammadreza Farzin arrived in Oman on Monday to discuss ‘monetary and banking cooperation’ and commercial exchanges, according to Iranian media.​