Iran open to cooperation on nuclear deal if US lifts sanctions, Minister tells BBC

New Delhi, Feb 15: Iran is ready to consider cooperation to reach a nuclear deal with the United States, but only if Washington is willing to discuss lifting sanctions, a senior Iranian minister has told BBC.

In an interview in Tehran, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the responsibility now lies with the US. “The ball is in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal,” he said. “If they are sincere, I’m sure we will be on the road to an agreement.”

US officials have repeatedly said that Iran is slowing down the long-running talks. On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump would prefer a deal but admitted it was “very hard to do” one with Iran.

US President Trump has also warned of possible military strikes if no agreement is reached to limit Iran’s nuclear programme. The US has increased its military presence in the region.

Earlier this month, the US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman. A second round is expected to take place in Geneva. Takht-Ravanchi said the first round was “more or less in a positive direction” but added that it was too early to judge the outcome. Trump has also described the talks as positive.

The Iranian minister said Tehran’s offer to dilute its uranium enriched to 60% shows it is willing to compromise. Uranium enriched at that level is close to weapons-grade, raising concerns that Iran could be moving towards developing a nuclear weapon — an accusation Tehran denies.

“We are ready to discuss this and other issues related to our programme if they are ready to talk about sanctions,” Takht-Ravanchi said. However, he did not say whether Iran wants all sanctions lifted or only some.

When asked if Iran would send its stockpile of more than 400kg of highly enriched uranium out of the country, as it did under the 2015 nuclear deal, he said it was “too early to say” what might happen in negotiations. Under the 2015 agreement, Russia accepted large amounts of Iran’s low-enriched uranium. President Trump later withdrew the US from that deal.

Takht-Ravanchi also said Iran wants talks to focus only on the nuclear issue. “If you want to have a deal you have to focus on the nuclear issue,” he said. The Iranian official also repeated that Tehran will not discuss its ballistic missile programme, another key demand from Israel, which sees the missiles as a major threat.