Iran nuclear deal ‘cannot be revived’, foreign minister says

Talks with the United States are no longer possible unless certain things change, Iranian state media reported Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying on Sunday as Washington awaits a response to its invitation for talks on a new nuclear deal.

Tehran this month received a letter from US President Donald Trump giving Iran two months to decide whether it would enter new negotiations or face stricter sanctions under Trump’s renewed “maximum pressure” campaign.

While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the offer for talks as deceptive, Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Tehran would soon reply to both the letter’s threats and opportunities.

On Sunday Araqchi added that Iran was not opposed to talks out of “stubbornness”, but rather as a result of history and experience, adding that Washington needs to recalibrate its policy before Tehran takes part in talks.

In his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and major powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

After Trump pulled out in 2018 and restored sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits in the development of its nuclear programme.