Iran president orders talks with US as Trump hopeful of deal

DUBAI:

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said on Monday, after US leader Donald Trump said he was hopeful of a deal to avert military action against the Islamic republic.

Following the Iranian authorities' deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.

While piling pressure on Iran, Trump has maintained he is hopeful of making a deal and Tehran has also insisted it wants diplomacy while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression.

"President Pezeshkian has ordered the opening of talks with the United States," the news agency Fars reported today, citing an unnamed government source.

"Iran and the United States will hold talks on the nuclear file," Fars said, without specifying a date. The report was also carried by the government newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh.

Iran said earlier today it was working on a method and framework for negotiations that would be ready in the coming days, with messages between the two sides relayed through regional players.

"Several points have been addressed and we are examining and finalising the details of each stage in the diplomatic process, which we hope to conclude in the coming days," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, without giving details on the content of any negotiations.

Trump had warned "time is running out" for Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.

But Baqaei said Tehran "never accepts ultimatums" and that he could not confirm any such message was received.

Read: Trump voices hope for Iran deal

Regional players have pushed for diplomacy to defuse tensions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Turkiye last week and held further calls with his Egyptian, Saudi and Turkish counterparts, he said on Telegram.

"President Trump said no nuclear weapons, and we fully agree. We fully agree with that. That could be a very good deal," Araghchi told CNN on Sunday.

"Of course, in return, we expect sanctions lifting. So, that deal is possible. Let's do not talk about impossible things."

Baqaei said the rallying of neighbouring states around a diplomatic solution demonstrated a fear any US attack would drag the region into conflict, echoing Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who warned on Sunday a US attack would trigger a "regional war".

Ambassadors summoned

The supreme leader also likened the recent protests to a "coup" attempt.

Authorities have said the protests, which were sparked by economic strain and exploded in size and intensity over several days in early January, were "riots" inflamed by its arch foes the US and Israel.

Tehran has acknowledged thousands of deaths during the protests, and on Sunday the presidency published the names of 2,986 people out of the 3,117 whom authorities said were killed in the unrest.

Authorities insist most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, attributing the violence to "terrorist acts".

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it has confirmed 6,842 deaths, mostly protesters killed by security forces, with rights groups warning the figure is likely far higher.

The crackdown prompted the European Union to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, with Iranian lawmakers retaliating on Sunday by slapping the same designation on European armies.

Baqaei said today the foreign ministry had summoned all the EU member state ambassadors in Tehran over the designation, and that other responses were to come.

Iranian state television also announced four foreigners had been arrested in Tehran for "participation in riots", without specifying their nationalities.

Authorities have continued to announce arrests, with rights groups estimating at least 40,000 people have been detained over the protests.

US demands

Iranian sources told Reuters last week that Trump had demanded three preconditions for resumption of talks: zero enrichment of uranium in Iran, limits on Tehran's ballistic missile programme and ending its support for regional proxies.

Iran has long rejected all three demands as unacceptable infringements of its sovereignty, but two Iranian officials told Reuters its clerical rulers see the ballistic missile programme, rather than uranium enrichment, as the bigger obstacle.

Baghaei said Tehran was considering "the various dimensions and aspects of the talks", adding that "time is of the essence for Iran as it wants lifting of unjust sanctions sooner."

A senior Iranian official and a Western diplomat told Reuters that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Araghchi could meet in Turkiye in the coming day.

Read more: Top US, Israeli generals meet at Pentagon amid soaring Iran tensions

A Turkish ruling party official told Reuters that Tehran and Washington had agreed that this week's talks would be focused on diplomacy, a potential reprieve for possible US strikes.

The Iranian official said "diplomacy is ongoing. For talks to resume, Iran says there should not be preconditions and that it is ready to show flexibility on uranium enrichment, including handing over 400 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium (HEU), accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement as a solution."

However, he added, for the start of talks, Tehran wants US military assets moved away from Iran.

"Now the ball is in Trump's court," he said.

Tehran's regional sway has been weakened by Israel's attacks on Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq, as well as by the ousting of Iran's close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Last year the US struck Iranian nuclear targets, joining in at the close of a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign.

After five rounds of talks that have stalled since May 2023, several hard-to-bridge issues remained between Tehran and Washington, including Iran's insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Since the US strikes on Iran's three nuclear sites in June, Tehran says its uranium enrichment work has stopped. The UN nuclear watchdog has called on Iran repeatedly to say what happened to the HEU stock since the June attacks.

Western countries fear Iran's uranium enrichment could yield material for a warhead. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for electricity generation and other civilian uses.

The Iranian sources said Tehran could ship its highly enriched uranium abroad and pause enrichment in a deal that should also include lifting economic sanctions.