Iran is weighing the terms for resuming talks with the US soon, a foreign ministry official said on Monday, after both sides signalled readiness to revive diplomacy over a long-running nuclear dispute and dispel fears of a new regional war. A separate senior Iranian official and a Western diplomat told Reuters that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi could meet in Turkey in the coming days. Tensions are running high amid a military buildup by the US Navy near Iran, after a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
US President Donald Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was “seriously talking”, while Tehran’s top security official Ali Larijani said arrangements for negotiations were under way. 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. The foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil 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.” Turkey and other regional allies have sought de-escalation. A Turkish ruling party official told Reuters Tehran and Washington had agreed to re-focus on diplomacy and possible talks this week, in a potential reprieve for possible US strikes.
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Witkoff is expected to visit Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s military chief, two senior Israeli officials said separately on Monday. 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 400kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU), accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement as a solution”.
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