Iran: ‘Excessive U.S. demands’ derail nuke talks

Negotiations between Iran and the U.S. won’t continue as long as Washington continues to make unreasonable demands, the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister said Wednesday.

The minister, Abbas Araghchi, confirmed that attempts to restart talks with America have failed due to “excessive” demands from Washington, adding that until the U.S. abandons those positions, Iran has no interest in continuing discussions.

“Talks that were ongoing with the U.S., as well as New York negotiations, were suspended and did not go forward because of excessive U.S. demands,” Mr. Araghchi told the state-affiliated news outlet Tasnim. “As long as this spirit, approach and bitter experiences in negotiations with the U.S. exist, it is natural that there is no possibility of reentering into dialogues.”

Iran and the U.S. were engaged in five rounds of negotiations concerning the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Those talks were interrupted by the air war between Iran and Israel in June that raged for 12 days. The U.S. eventually entered the conflict and destroyed Iran’s uranium enrichment sites.

Since then, Iran has maintained an outwardly aggressive posture toward the U.S. and Europe. Reports indicate that Iranian diplomats tried to broker a discussion between Mr. Araghchi and his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during the U.N. General Assembly in September, but the meeting never happened.

Mr. Araghchi confirmed on Wednesday that Iranian diplomats made contact with Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, and would keep diplomatic channels open.

Still, the chances of a new round of talks between Tehran and Washington are remote, as both sides hold seemingly intractable views on the future of Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. maintains that Iran can’t revive its uranium enrichment program, citing the threat of Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran, for its part, has said for years that its nuclear program is key to its national sovereignty and that it’s purely for civilian use. Tehran, in the past, has been open to restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.