Iran to Resume Nuclear Talks with US. "If There Are No Further Attacks"

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi announced that his country would agree to resume nuclear talks with the United States if it received guarantees that it would not be attacked again, Iranian state media reported.

Aragchi said on Saturday at a meeting with diplomats in Tehran that Iran has always been and will be ready to talk about its nuclear program, but "it should receive guarantees that if talks resume, this trend will not escalate into war."

He was referring to Israel's 12-day bombardment of Iranian nuclear and military installations and the US attack on three facilities of Iran's nuclear program on June 22.

The minister emphasized that if the US and other countries want to resume talks with Iran, "above all, there should be strong guarantees that such actions will not be repeated." "The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has made reaching a negotiated solution more difficult and complicated," he said.

Following these attacks, Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which led to the departure of its inspectors from the country.

Aragchi said that, in accordance with Iranian law, authorities in Tehran will respond to the IAEA's request for cooperation on a case-by-case basis, based on their own interests. He added that any IAEA inspections should take into account Iranian security concerns and the safety of the inspectors.

- There is a serious risk of the spread of radioactive substances or the explosion of ammunition left over from the war in attacked nuclear facilities - he noted.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that US attacks had so severely damaged nuclear facilities in his country that Iranian authorities were still unable to assess the damage. (PAP)

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