DUBAI – Iran is ready to break the impasse on a series of issues with the UN nuclear agency over its nuclear program, but it will not bow to pressure, its foreign minister said after meeting the head of the monitoring agency in Tehran on November 14.

“The ball is in the court of the EU/E3,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, referring to three European countries – France, Britain and Germany – which represent the West alongside the United States in nuclear negotiations.

The social media post followed the Foreign Minister’s talks with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.

“Ready to negotiate on the basis of our national interest and our inalienable rights, but not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation,” Mr. Araghchi said.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would send a message to the three European powers, through Grossi, about Tehran’s desire to resolve its nuclear standoff, while stressing that any pressure on Tehran would have the effect reverse.

Diplomats told Reuters on November 13 that Britain, France and Germany were pushing for the IAEA board to adopt a new resolution against Iran next week to put pressure on Tehran over what they see as poor cooperation.

Grossi, in a televised joint news conference with Iran’s nuclear chief, urged Tehran to take steps to resolve outstanding issues.

“It is within our power to take concrete steps that will make clear to the United States and the international community that we can clarify matters and move forward with concrete solutions,” he said.

Mr. Grossi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since his election in July. The president told Grossi that Tehran was ready to cooperate with the IAEA to resolve “alleged ambiguities” regarding Tehran’s nuclear work.

Trump’s return to power as US president in January upends nuclear diplomacy with Iran, which had stalled under the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden after months of indirect negotiations.

During Trump’s previous term, Washington abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that limited Tehran’s nuclear work in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

On November 12, Mr. Pezeshkian, considered relatively moderate, said Tehran would not be able to ignore its archenemy, the United States, and that it must “treat its enemies with patience.”

Trump has not said whether he will continue his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran when he takes office.

Degraded relationships

Relations between Tehran and the IAEA have deteriorated over several long-standing issues, including Iran’s ban on the agency’s uranium enrichment experts from coming to the country and its failure to explain traces of uranium found on undeclared sites.

In August, the agency said that Iranian production of highly enriched uranium continued and that the country had not improved its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, despite a resolution adopted by the Council of IAEA governors in June.

The resolution calls on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog and reverse its recent ban on inspectors.

Mr. Grossi, who has long sought progress with Tehran on its rapidly advancing nuclear work, said: “The inspections are only one chapter of our cooperation and cannot be discussed. »

The United States’ withdrawal from the nuclear pact in 2018 and reimposition of sanctions prompted Tehran to violate limitations on its uranium enrichment – seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop a nuclear capability.

Tehran now enriches uranium to a fissile purity of 60 percent, close to the roughly 90 percent required for a nuclear bomb. Tehran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on November 13 that Tehran’s response to a resolution could be to limit diplomatic and technical cooperation with the IAEA.

On November 15, Mr. Grossi is due to visit the Iranian Natanz nuclear power plant and its Fordow site, dug into a mountain. REUTERS