Iranian Official Says U.S. ‘Maximalist’ Demands Stall Face-To-Face Talks
ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Iran is not yet ready for a new round of face-to-face talks with U.S. officials, a senior Iranian official said Saturday, citing Washington’s refusal to give up “maximalist” demands on key issues.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh rejected President Donald Trump’s claims, saying in an interview with The Associated Press at a diplomatic forum in Türkiye that his country would not deliver its enriched uranium to the United States.
“I can tell you that no enriched materials will be sent to the United States,” Khatibzadeh said. “This is a non-starter, and I can assure you that while we are prepared to address any concerns we have, we will not accept non-starters.”
On Friday, Trump said the United States would go to Iran and “get all the nuclear dust,” referring to 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites badly damaged in U.S. military strikes last year.
Khatibzadeh said that many messages were exchanged between the parties, but accused the United States of acting decisively regarding demands that Iran finds excessive.
“We are not there yet to move on to a real meeting because there are issues on which the Americans have not yet abandoned their maximalist positions,” Hatibzadeh said. He added that Iran wants a “framework agreement” to be finalized before moving on to face-to-face talks.
The Iranian official did not go into details of the talks with the United States or say what issues remained unresolved, but he urged Washington to address Iran’s concerns, including sanctions on Iran.
“Other parties must also understand and address our core concerns, such as the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by the Americans on the Iranians and economic terrorism that targets the Iranian people, suffocating them and causing them to rebel against the political structure in Iran,” Hatibzadeh said. he said.
Hatibzadeh responded to the question of whether Iran would respond to Israel’s new attacks on Lebanon despite the ceasefire: “Iran has no choice but to stop the aggressors once and for all.”
Trump said Israel was “forbidden” from further attacks on Lebanon by the United States and said “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the ban only applies to offensive attacks, not actions in self-defense.
The Iranian official reiterated Iran’s position that Tehran’s actions were defensive and in response to unprovoked aggression that occurred in the midst of negotiations.
He also reiterated Iran’s position that the ceasefire should extend to Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
When the US and Iran declared a temporary ceasefire last week, Pakistan and Iran stated that it would include Lebanon, but Israel and later the US denied this. Israel then launched a series of airstrikes on central Beirut, causing Iran to announce that it would once again close the Strait of Hormuz. After a ceasefire was implemented in Lebanon on Friday, Iran announced that it had reopened the strait.
“Iran negotiated in good faith, accepted the ceasefire and told everyone that this ceasefire should cover all countries, including Lebanon,” Hatibzadeh said. “Then the other side said they were not involved in this and started committing brutality.”
He said that within the scope of negotiations with the USA, a “new protocol” will be implemented for the Strait of Hormuz and that it will “remain open and safe for all civilian passages”.
Trump said that the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will continue and that attacks will continue if no agreement is reached with Iran.
