Iran DepFM: Iran to receive IAEA tech team, considering new talks with US
Iran cooperation with the IAEA will change after the Israeli/US bombing of Iran nuclear sites, & an IAEA technical team will come to Iran to discuss the modalities in the next 2-3 weeks, Iran Dep FM.
Iran has agreed that a technical team from the UN atomic watchdog agency will visit Iran in the next two to three weeks to discuss how Iran will cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency going forward, in the wake of Israeli and American attacks on Iran nuclear sites in June, a senior Iranian diplomat said.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign for International and Legal Affairs, said that Iran was open to new talks with the United States, but believes two principles need to be agreed to make them successful: namely that the United States should agree that Iran will not be attacked while it is negotiating, and that the U.S. and Iran agree that a deal would benefit both countries.
“You should enter into negotiations at a time that both sides should be determined to have a positive outcome,” Gharibabadi told journalists at a meeting at the Iran mission to the United Nations in New York on Wednesday (July 23). “Otherwise, … the negotiations would be very short.”
“We are of the view that some principles should be observed if you are going to sit at the negotiating table,” the diplomat, who previously served as Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna, said. The Americans “should not abuse the platform of negotiations for another aggression against Iran.”
“Second, both sides should work on a ‘win-win’ solution,” he said, adding that negotiations should not be seen as one side surrendering, but a compromise, where you give something and you take something.
“What is a win-win solution is that they should have trust in Iran’s nuclear program,” he said. “We are ready to listen to them and agree…on a set of certain measures in this regard. And second, the rights of Iran should be respected under the NPT, and sanctions should be lifted. So this is a win-win solution.”
If they expect Iran to surrender its rights as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, “it doesn’t fly,” he said, adding that Iran considers the issues central to its sovereignty.
“We have not fought for enrichment,” Gharibabadi said. “We have fought for our independence and sovereignty.”
Gharibabadi suggested that Iran could respond to a US request for talks shortly after Iran meets with three European powers on Friday in Istanbul. The talks, to include himself and fellow Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Ravanchi, as well as the political directors of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, will discuss ideas for how to manage a coming deadline for some UN nuclear sanctions on Iran to either expire, be “snapped back”, or possibly have the deadline extended.
“In our view, the best solution to prevent the snapback is not its extension, but is through diplomacy and through negotiations,” he said. “If there is going to be any deal, the snapback may be prevented, should be prevented.”
However, he acknowledged, time to reach a deal is short.
“On Friday, we will discuss this issue with the Europeans to see how we should prevent a snapback, and how we should prevent more complicating the situation,” he said. “Possibly they may come to the table…with new ideas. We are open to that. We will listen to them to see what are their ideas…, to see how we can agree to prevent complicating more the situation.”
He said following European consultations with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, E3 foreign ministers and European Union High Representative Kaja Kallas called Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to propose meeting:
“They showed interest to manage the situation. That's important, and they proposed to have a meeting… So…these kind of meetings and engagement are important. So yes, they set the deadline, but simultaneously, after a couple of days, they showed interest in discussion of the issue and finding some solutions to manage the crisis on the issue of a snap back. That’s important in my view.”
He also said that Iran’s atomic energy organization was currently undertaking an assessment of the damage to Iran’s nuclear sites caused by the Israeli and American bombing campaign last month, and would provide a report on the damage to Iranian authorities soon.
He said IAEA Iran cooperation would change after the Israeli American bombing, and the IAEA technical team would come to Iran to discuss the new modalities, as he put it, in the next two to three weeks.
“The only question that we have received from the IAEA, orally, not officially, was regarding the nuclear material,” he said, referring to the fate of Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium. “We have told them we do not know what has happened (to it) because it is under assessment.”
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