DUBAI, November 14. /TASS/. Iran will conduct negotiations on its nuclear program taking into account only national interests and will not accept any external pressure or blackmail, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said after a meeting with the director general of the International Nuclear Agency. Atomic Energy (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.

“Iran has never left the negotiating table on its peaceful nuclear program. The ball is in the court of the EU and the European Troika. We are ready to negotiate on the basis of our national interests and our inalienable rights, but we are not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation,” the senior diplomat wrote on his X page.

The Iranian minister called the meeting with the IAEA chief “important and direct” and called for resolving all differences through cooperation and dialogue.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed with Tehran in 2015 by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to resolve the crisis related to Iranian nuclear research. The deal marked the end of a crisis that began in 2004, when Western countries accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons and imposed sanctions. In 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement. The New York Times reported, citing Iranian officials, that Tehran believes that after Trump’s recent victory in the presidential election, a new agreement with the United States on the nuclear program, if reached, would be more strong and more durable. Earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons and was ready to fully return to its commitments under the JCPOA.