Iran says ready for nuclear compromise if US lifts sanctions

TEHRAN: Iran is ready to compromise on its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in exchange for US sanctions being lifted, its deputy foreign minister said in a BBC interview published Sunday.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi’s remarks followed a resumption of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States in Oman on February 6.

Switzerland on Saturday announced that a new round of talks would take place in Geneva next week, but without specifying which day.

Iran has not yet officially confirmed the new round of talks, but Takht-Ravanchi, who was in Iran’s Oman delegation led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said they would be on Tuesday, the BBC reported.

Western countries, led by the United States as well as by Israel, Iran’s arch-enemy and considered by experts to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, accuse the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies having such military ambitions, but insists on its right to this technology for civilian purposes.

Iran is ready to compromise to reach an agreement with the United States including diluting its highly enriched uranium, but Washington must lift its sanctions which are crippling Iran’s economy, Takht-Ravanchi said, according to the BBC.

“If we see the sincerity on their (American) part, I am sure we will be on a road to have an agreement,” he said, speaking in English.

The BBC said he was also questioned about the possibility of Tehran agreeing to ship its stockpile of more than 400 kilos of highly enriched uranium out of the country and did not rule out a compromise, staying “it is too early to say” what will happen at the talks.

Several countries, including Russia, have offered to take responsibility for the stockpile, an offer Iran has so far refused.

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the fate of Iran’s stockpile of more than 400 kilos of 60-percent enriched uranium that was last seen by nuclear watchdog inspectors last June 10, before Israeli and US strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent, well above the 3.67 percent limit allowed by the now-defunct 2015 nuclear agreement and close to 90 percent needed to make a bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for zero enrichment in Iran.

“The issue of zero enrichment is not an issue any more and as far as Iran is concerned, it is not on the table any more,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC.

The Fars news agency, citing a foreign ministry official, reported on Sunday that the talks would also cover potential American investments in Iran’s energy sector.