Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied sending negotiation signals to Washington, after Iran International reported that senior officials privately acknowledged the White House had ignored at least 15 messages from Tehran seeking renewed talks.
“I never said we sent signals to America and they did not respond,” ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran.
His comments followed an exclusive report by Iran International, which said senior Iranian officials admitted in private meetings that the White House ignored at least 15 messages from Tehran seeking renewed negotiations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told told editors of Iranian print and online media in a private meeting on Saturday that US officials had disregarded Iran’s outreach. In a separate session, deputy foreign minister for legal affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran had used different channels to contact Washington but received no reply.
Elsewhere during his press conference, Baghaei added that Iran remained skeptical about US intentions. “In relation to America, we must always consider the reality that we were confronted with Israeli aggression and US support in the middle of a negotiating process. Certainly, we cannot talk about the future without taking past experiences into account.”
Baghaei accused Washington of undermining diplomacy. “In the past ten years America has disrupted diplomatic processes two or three times. These instances show that Washington did not have goodwill from the beginning,” he said.
The European powers -- Britain, France and Germany -- triggered the 30-day snapback process last week, demanding that Iran resume talks with the United States, allow full IAEA inspections, and clarify its stockpiles of enriched uranium or face restored UN sanctions.
Baghaei also addressed remarks he made in an interview with the Guardian suggesting Iran was ready to reduce enrichment levels to the 3.67% cap under the 2015 nuclear deal if a comprehensive agreement was reached.
On Tuesday, he said: “I explained that if the other side fulfills its commitments, we will do the same. But we are very far from that point.”
Washington has insisted Iran halt all uranium enrichment on its territory, a condition repeatedly rejected by Iranian leaders as a red line. Baghaei repeated that position, describing Europe’s conditions as lacking seriousness and goodwill.
