Tehran, Feb 16 (.) Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will meet with the director of the UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi on Monday, a day before a second round of US-Iran nuclear negotiations in Geneva.
“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal. What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said on X.
The meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will include nuclear experts and focus on technical discussions tied to monitoring and verification.
The talks, scheduled for Tuesday, are expected to include US envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner. The talks follow the first indirect round in Oman on February 6, where Iran insisted on the right to enrich uranium, while Washington pushed for broader discussions on ballistic missiles and regional proxies, including Hezbollah. Both sides described the initial meeting as a “good start,” though major differences remain.
Iran has indicated willingness to offer compromises to reach a nuclear deal, but only if the US is prepared to discuss lifting sanctions. Tehran maintains it will not accept zero uranium enrichment and will only negotiate nuclear program limits in exchange for sanctions relief.
While Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues like Iran’s missile stockpile, Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and won’t accept zero uranium enrichment.
Prior to the US joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran-US nuclear talks had stalled over Washington’s demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the US views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed at a White House meeting on Wednesday that the US would work to reduce Iran’s oil exports to China, Axios reported, citing two US officials briefed on the issue.
“We agreed that we will go full force with maximum pressure against Iran, for example, regarding Iranian oil sales to China,” Axios reported on Saturday, quoting a senior US official.
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