Iran President Ready for US Talks if Sanctions Are Lifted

TEHRAN, Sept 14: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran is ready to hold talks with the United States, including on its nuclear program, but insisted that Washington must lift sanctions, abandon unilateralism and stop negotiating through what he described as force.

“We are ready for dialogue,” Pezeshkian told India Today, saying any negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program should take place within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and international law.

Pezeshkian questioned why Washington was seeking new negotiations instead of building on an understanding he said had already been reached in Pakistan.

“I don’t know what was wrong with what we wrote in Pakistan that the United States now wants us to talk again from scratch,” he said, questioning whether anything in the proposed understanding fell outside accepted legal and scientific frameworks.

He said Pakistan had made extensive efforts to promote peace and security in the region, while Qatar had also sought to help implement the understanding reached in Pakistan.

“Our position is the same as what we said before: the United States should lift its sanctions, abandon unilateralism, not speak to us through force, and open the way so that we can live like the rest of the world,” Pezeshkian said.

The Iranian president also expressed uncertainty over which statements by US President Donald Trump should be regarded as Washington’s official position.

“We don’t know which of the things Trump says we are ultimately supposed to accept and stand by,” he said.

Pezeshkian rejected accusations that Iran had initiated the conflict, saying, “We did not attack anyone. They attacked us, and we defended ourselves.”