Iran's Khamenei slams 'outrageous' US demands in nuclear talks

TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are “excessive and outrageous”, state media reported, voicing doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed.

“I don’t think nuclear talks with the U.S. will bring results. I don’t know what will happen,” Khamenei said, adding that Washington should avoid making “nonsense” demands in the negotiations, four rounds of which have been held.

“A date has been suggested but we have not yet accepted it,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state media on Tuesday when asked about a fifth round of talks, which an Iranian official said on Monday might be held this weekend in Rome.

“We are witnessing positions on the U.S. side that do not go along with any logic and are creating problems for the negotiations. That’s why we have not determined the next round of talks, we are reviewing the matter and hope logic will prevail,” Araqchi added.

The talks on a new nuclear deal appear on shaky ground as both Iran and the U.S. have clashed over the issue of uranium enrichment.

Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Monday the talks would fail if Washington insists Tehran refrain from domestic enrichment of uranium, which the U.S. says is a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear energy programme has entirely peaceful purposes.

Last week U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran needed to “move quickly or something bad is going to happen” after being given a proposal for a deal. The Islamic Republic maintains it has not received any written proposal from Washington.

Trump has repeatedly warned Iran it would be bombed and face severe sanctions if it did not reach a compromise to resolve its long disputed nuclear energy programme.

During his first, 2017-21 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s enrichment activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

Trump, who branded the now moribund 2015 accord one-sided in Iran’s favour, also reimposed sweeping U.S. sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic responded by escalating enrichment.