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US must rule out more strikes before talks can resume: Iran

Diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran cannot resume unless the US rules out further strikes on Iran, its deputy foreign minister told the BBC late Sunday.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the British broadcaster that the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table, a week after it struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.

“We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality,” said Takht-Ravanchi.

“Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?”

The US needed to be “quite clear on this very important question”, he said.

The two countries were in talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme when Israel hit Iranian nuclear sites and military infrastructure earlier this month, with the US joining by bombing three nuclear sites — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — on June 21.

The deputy minister revealed to the BBC that the US had signalled it did “not want to engage in regime change” by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Takht-Ravanchi also said Iran should still be allowed to enrich uranium.

“The level of that can be discussed, the capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not have enrichment, you should have zero enrichment, and if you do not agree, we will bomb you, that is the law of the jungle,” he said.

Israel claims that Iran’s nuclear programme is close to producing a bomb, whereas Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.

It is not clear yet how much damage the strikes inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which US President Donald Trump had said were “totally obliterated”.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran would probably be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months”.

Takht-Ravanchi said he did not know how long it would take.

Under a 2015 deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium below 3.67 per cent purity for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Trump abandoned the agreement in 2018 and Iran responded by producing uranium enriched to 60 pc — above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade.

That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.



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