Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Iran believes a nuclear deal with the U.S. is possible if realistic.
- Iran seeks guarantees President Donald Trump won't abandon a new nuclear pact again.
- Russia offers to mediate; Iran's Araqchi will visit Beijing for discussions.
MOSCOW — Iran believes reaching an agreement on its nuclear program with the United States is possible as long as Washington is realistic, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday on the eve of a second round of talks with the Trump administration.
"If they demonstrate seriousness of intent and do not make unrealistic demands, reaching agreements is possible," Araqchi told a news conference in Moscow after talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia.
Iran had noted the United States' seriousness during a first round of talks on the deal, which took place in Oman last week, Araqchi said. The second round is set for Saturday in Rome and will be held through Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said.
"Given the contradictory positions we have heard from various U.S. officials over the past few days, we expect the U.S. side to first provide an explanation in this regard and to remove the serious ambiguities that have arisen regarding its intentions and seriousness," Baghaei told state media without elaborating.
Iran told the United States in talks last week it was ready to accept some limits on its uranium enrichment but needed water-tight guarantees that President Donald Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact, a senior Iranian official said on Friday.
Trump has threatened to attack Iran if it does not reach a deal with the U.S. over its nuclear program, which Iran says is peaceful but the West says is aimed at building an atomic bomb.
"I'm for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific," Trump told reporters on Friday when asked if he would consider letting Tehran keep a civil nuclear program.
Lavrov said Russia was "ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the U.S.A."
Moscow has played a role in Iran's nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent Araqchi to Moscow with a letter for President Vladimir Putin to brief the Kremlin about the negotiations. Araqchi will also visit Beijing within the next few days, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Friday, without providing further details.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier on Friday that the U.S. administration is looking for a peaceful solution with Iran but will never tolerate the country developing a nuclear weapon.
Contributing: Steve Holland
