Iran’s top diplomat has said the government is ready for negotiations with the US as the two countries reportedly prepared to send top envoys to Istanbul for high-stakes talks on the Iranian nuclear programme later this week.
As US warships and aircraft have amassed in the region for a potential strike on Iran, the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, suggested that talks could take place imminently. Donald Trump on Saturday said Iranians were “seriously talking to us” as he hinted at a deal to avert military strikes against Tehran.
Speaking during a visit to the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Araghchi said: “[Iran’s enemies] are talking about diplomacy today, even though Iran has always been ready for this option, provided there is mutual respect and consideration of interests.”
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday that the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, had ordered the start of nuclear talks with the US, as Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in the region for talks in Israel with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
No date was given for any Iran-US talks but a spokesperson for Tehran’s foreign ministry said that “several points have been addressed and we are examining and finalising the details of each stage in the diplomatic process, which we hope to conclude in the coming days”.
The US news site Axios, citing US administration officials, said Witkoff and Araghchi would meet on Friday in Istanbul along with representatives of several Arab and Muslim countries to discuss a possible nuclear deal. Reuters reported that delegations would attend from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
The meeting would be the first between the US and Iranian officials since last April, shortly before Israel and later the US struck Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile sites during a 12-day war in June. During the conflict, Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at cities and towns in Israel, many of which were downed by interceptors.
Trump has dispatched a “massive armada” of ships and warplanes to the region in response to Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters that has killed thousands, with activists claiming that more than 30,000 were left dead in a government massacre. They include an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, along with guided missile destroyers and dozens of warplanes capable of delivering strikes against Iran’s leadership, military targets, or its nuclear programme.
The US president has since indicated he also wants Iran to negotiate a new deal to cease production of highly enriched uranium that could be used for a nuclear weapon and to scupper its ballistic missile programme. New satellite imagery published last week indicated that Iran had built new roofs over damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities after strikes in June by the US and Israel.
Trump has also suggested that he is seeking regime change, raising fears that efforts to topple Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could spark a regional war.
Reuters on Monday reported that the Iranian government was “increasingly worried” that a limited US strike could reignite protests and potentially lead to a revolution, citing six current and former Iranian officials who said that protesters were increasingly ready to confront the security services.
Saudi and Israeli officials held talks at the Pentagon last week to discuss potential US strikes and concerns over an Iranian counterattack that could lead to growing conflict in the region. Iran has threatened to attack Israel, including Tel Aviv, if a strike is launched by the US. Netanyahu on Monday said that Israel was ready “for every scenario” and warned that anyone who attacks the country would face “unbearable consequences”.
Iranian protesters have called for an independent inquiry into the number of people killed following protests that began in December, prompted by the devaluation of the Iranian currency and high inflation. Iran’s government has taken the unusual step of overseeing the publication of the names of the deceased from the protests. The government has claimed that 3,117 people, including members of the security services, died as a result of the protests. Activists have said that the number is more than 30,000.
