Iran: president says direct talks with US possible if it abandons hostility

Iran could hold direct talks with the United States if Washington demonstrates practically that it is not hostile to the Islamic Republic, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday. Reuters reported that Pezeshkian was responding to a question at a news conference in Tehran on whether the government would be open to direct talks with the US to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

Former US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal unilaterally in 2018, arguing that it was too generous to Tehran. He also restored harsh US sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to, it is alleged, gradually breach the agreement’s nuclear development limits.

“We are not hostile towards the US,” said Pezeshkian. “It should end its hostility towards us by showing goodwill in practice.” We are brothers with the Americans as well, he added.

After taking office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden tried to negotiate a revival of the nuclear deal under which Iran had restricted its nuclear programme in return for relief from US, European Union and UN sanctions. However, Tehran refused to negotiate directly with Washington and worked mainly through European or Arab intermediaries.

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