Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that Tehran has responded to President Trump’s letter proposing nuclear talks that was sent to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni.
“The official response comprises a letter wherein our viewpoints regarding the status quo and Mr. Trump’s letter have been fully laid out and relayed to the other side,” Araghchi said, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency.
Araghchi said the message was delivered through Oman, which has a history of mediating between the US and Iran. He reiterated Iran’s opposition to direct talks with the US in the face of Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign,” which has involved increasing sanctions and threats of military action.
But Iran is leaving the door open to negotiations through intermediaries, something Aragchi also reaffirmed. “Indirect negotiations, though, can continue, as they existed in the past,” he said.
According to Axios, Trump’s letter to Khamenei gave Iran a two-month deadline to reach a deal with the US. If an agreement isn’t reached in that time, the threat of US or Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear program would rise significantly.
Despite all the hype around Iran’s nuclear program, US intelligence agencies reaffirmed in their annual threat assessment that there’s no evidence Tehran is working toward a nuclear weapon.
The hype over Iran’s nuclear program revolves around the enrichment of some uranium at 60%, the highest level Iran has achieved but still lower than the 90% needed for weapons-grade. Iran first took the step to enrich at 60% in response to a 2021 Israeli sabotage attack against its Natanz nuclear facility, which was meant to sabotage talks between the Biden administration and Tehran.
Iran is still a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it won’t enrich uranium beyond the 60% level.
Amid increasing US and Israeli threats about its nuclear program, Iran has recently pointed out that Israel has a secret nuclear weapons stockpile, and its nuclear program is not subject to IAEA inspections since Israel is not a signatory to the NPT.
