Iran weighs nuclear diplomacy with US to cool fears of war

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Iran is weighing the terms for resuming talks with the United States 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Navy near Iran, following a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution.

U.S. 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 program 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. 

PREPARATIONS FOR POTENTIAL US-IRAN TALKS

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 that Tehran and Washington had agreed to re-focus on diplomacy and possible talks this week, in a potential reprieve for possible U.S. strikes.

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. 

‘BALL IN TRUMP’S COURT’

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 400 kg of highly enriched uranium (HEU), accepting zero enrichment under a consortium arrangement as a solution”. 

However, he added, for the start of talks, Tehran wants U.S. military assets moved away from Iran.

“Now the ball is in Trump’s court,” he said. 

SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS SOME REPAIR WORK AT IRANIAN SITES

Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq – as well as by the ousting of Iran’s close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

In June last year the United States struck Iranian nuclear targets, joining in at the close of a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign. Since then, Tehran has said its uranium enrichment work has stopped. 

Recent satellite imagery of two of the targeted sites, Isfahan and Natanz, appear to show some repair work since December, with new roofing over two previously destroyed buildings. No other rebuilding is visible, according to the imagery provided by Planet Labs and reviewed by Reuters. 

Washington-based think tank ISIS said satellite images from late January show construction work on tunnel entrances at Isfahan that could “indicate a preparation for additional military strikes” as was seen ahead of last year’s U.S. strikes.

It could also signal the movement of assets from other facilities, it added. 

NUCLEAR TALKS STANDOFF

After five rounds of talks that have stalled since May 2023, several hard-to-bridge issues remained between Tehran and Washington, including Iran’s insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium. 

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has called on Iran repeatedly to say what happened to the HEU stock since the June attacks. 

Western countries fear Iran’s uranium enrichment could yield material for a warhead. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for electricity generation and other civilian uses. 

The Iranian sources said Tehran could ship its highly enriched uranium abroad and pause enrichment in a deal that should also include the lifting of economic sanctions.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Peter Graff)