The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that an agreement with the US is “within reach, but only if diplomacy is prioritized,” a few days before a new round of negotiations between the two sides in Geneva.
The negotiations are scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, said a senior US official on Monday, with the American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner expected to meet with an Iranian delegation for the negotiations.
The two countries resumed negotiations earlier this month, while the US has increased its military presence in the Middle East. Iran threatened to attack American bases in the region if attacked.
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“We have a historic opportunity to reach an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,” Araqchi said in a post on X.
The Iranian chief diplomat said that his country would resume negotiations with “the determination to reach a fair and equitable agreement in the shortest possible time.”
Earlier, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said that Iran was ready to take all necessary measures to reach an agreement with the United States.
“We are ready to reach an agreement as quickly as possible. We will do whatever is necessary to make it happen. We will enter the Geneva negotiation room with total honesty and good faith,” Takht-Ravanchi said in comments released by state media.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the first option for US President Donald Trump has always been diplomacy, but that he was willing to use lethal force if necessary.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran would seriously consider a combination of sending half of its highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest, and participating in the creation of a regional enrichment consortium — an idea raised periodically for years of Iran-related diplomacy.
The Iran would do this in exchange for US recognition of Iran’s right to “peaceful nuclear enrichment” under an agreement that would also include the lifting of economic sanctions, the official said.
“If there is an attack or aggression against Iran, we will respond in accordance with our defense plans… A US attack on Iran is a real gamble,” added Takht-Ravanchi.
The indirect negotiations between the two sides last year did not reach an agreement, largely due to friction over the US demand that Iran renounce uranium enrichment on its territory, which Washington views as a path to a nuclear bomb.
Iran has always denied seeking such weapons.
The US joined Israel in attacking Iranian nuclear facilities last June, effectively restricting Iran’s uranium enrichment, with Trump claiming that its major nuclear facilities had been “destroyed.” But it is believed Iran still possesses stocks enriched previously, which Washington wants it to relinquish.
