Iran Foreign Minister Meets IAEA Chief Ahead of Nuclear Talks

Reuters

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi in Geneva.

Iran’s Foreign Minister met with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday, ahead of renewed talks between Washington and Tehran aimed at resolving their long-running nuclear dispute. Despite diplomatic engagement, there were few clear signs of compromise from either side, with the threat of possible US military action lingering.

The meeting took place with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as diplomatic efforts intensify to ease tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Washington, which joined Israel in a wave of air strikes on Iran in June, has ordered a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East. The deployment adds to US warships and aircraft already stationed in the region, underscoring the seriousness of the standoff.

Adding to regional tensions, Iran began military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international shipping lane and key oil export route for Gulf Arab states, which have called for diplomacy to defuse the crisis.

The United States and Iran resumed negotiations earlier this month in an effort to address their decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear activities. Washington, other Western governments and Israel maintain that Iran’s programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons — a claim Tehran firmly denies.

Oil prices were little changed on Monday, as investors weighed the potential market impact of the upcoming US-Iran talks against expectations of increased supply from OPEC+.

However, Washington has sought to broaden the scope of negotiations to include non-nuclear issues, such as Iran’s missile programme. Tehran has stated it is prepared to discuss limitations on its nuclear activities only in exchange for sanctions relief and has ruled out accepting zero uranium enrichment. It has also insisted that its missile capabilities are not open for negotiation.

Speaking during a visit to Hungary, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said reaching a deal with Tehran would be difficult.

Rubio said: "I think that there's an opportunity here to diplomatically reach an agreement that addresses the things we're concerned about. We'll be very open and welcoming to that. But I don't want to overstate it either. It's going to be hard. It's been very difficult for anyone to do real deals with Iran, because we're dealing with radical Shia clerics who are making theological decisions, not geopolitical ones."

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he was in Geneva to "achieve a fair and equitable deal".
"What is not on the table: submission before threats," Araqchi said on X.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for any attack, a move that could disrupt roughly a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher. The strategic waterway links major Gulf oil producers — including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates — to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched military drills dubbed “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz” to test the readiness of its naval units to safeguard the waterway, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported on Monday.

"Intelligently utilising the geopolitical advantages of the Islamic Republic in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman are among the main objectives of this exercise," Tasnim said.

Iran's civil defence organisation held a chemical defence drill in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone on Monday to strengthen preparedness for potential chemical incidents in the energy hub located in southern Iran.

Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi on Sunday signalled Iran's readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC that the ball was "in America's court to prove that they want to do a deal."

Prior to the U.S. joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran-U.S. nuclear talks had stalled over Washington's demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the U.S. views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.

Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes and is ready to assuage concerns regarding nuclear weapons by "building trust that enrichment is and will stay for peaceful purposes."

Iran's Foreign Ministry said Araqchi had discussed cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as Tehran's technical point of view regarding nuclear talks with the U.S. during his meeting with IAEA head Rafael Grossi.

Source: Reuters



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