Iran’s top diplomat says US must change its approach for talks

DUBAI: Talks with the U.S. are impossible unless Washington changes its pressure policy, the Iranian foreign minister said on Sunday, as Iran prepares to respond to President Donald Trump’s letter proposing negotiations on a new nuclear deal.

Trump said earlier this month that he had sent the letter to Iran’s top authority, Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal”.

Khamenei rejected the US offer for talks as “a deception”, saying negotiating with the Trump administration would “tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran”.

However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Tehran would soon reply to both the letter’s “threats and opportunities”.

While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president, including efforts to drive down the country’s oil exports to zero.

The U.S. has issued four rounds of sanctions on Iran’s oil sales since Trump’s return to the White House.

“Under these conditions, it is no longer possible to enter into talks with America. Unless certain approaches change,” Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

“When we say no to negotiations with the U.S., it stems from a history and experience,” he said, referring to Trump’s withdrawal from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers in his first term.