Iran says open to US nuclear talks, rejects missile curbs

AFP | Tehran

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Security chief Ali Larijani said yesterday that Iran was open to nuclear talks with the United States but ruled out any restrictions on its missile programme.

“The path for negotiations with the US is not closed; yet these are the Americans who only pay lip service to talks and do not come to the table; and they wrongly blame Iran for it,” said Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“By raising unrealisable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path which negates any talks,” Larijani said in a post on X.

The remarks came days after the United States welcomed a move by European powers to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran but said it remained “available for direct engagement with Iran”.

Nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, which had begun in April, broke off in mid-June when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, swiftly followed by the United States.

On Thursday, Britain, France and Germany -- the so-called E3 -- triggered a “snapback” clause in the moribund 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and major powers that allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed in the event of non-compliance with its provisions.

That agreement effectively collapsed in 2018 when US President Donald Trump withdrew from it during his first term and restored crippling sanctions.