DUBAI--Iran could hold direct talks with the United States if Washington demonstrates "in practice" that it is not hostile to the Islamic Republic, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday.
Pezeshkian was responding to a question at a news conference in Tehran on whether Tehran would be open to direct talks with the U.S. to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. Former U.S. president Donald Trump reneged on that deal in 2018, arguing it was too generous to Tehran, and restored harsh U.S. sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually violate the agreement's nuclear limits.
"We are not hostile towards the U.S., they should end their hostility towards us by showing their goodwill in practice," said Pezeshkian, adding: "We are brothers with the Americans as well." After taking office in January 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden tried to negotiate a revival of the nuclear pact under which Iran had restricted its nuclear programme in return for relief from U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions.
However, Tehran refused to directly negotiate with Washington and worked mainly through European or Arab intermediaries. Pezeshkian also said that his government had not transferred any weapons to Russia since it took office in August, after Western powers accused Tehran of delivering ballistic missiles to Moscow in September. The United States and its allies accused Iran last week of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, imposing fresh sanctions on Moscow and Tehran.
Russia and Iran both denied the Western claims. Asked whether Iran had transferred missiles to Russia, Pezeshkian told a televised news conference: "It is possible that a delivery took place in the past... but I can assure you that since I took office, there has not been any such delivery to Russia." Reuters reported in February that Iran had provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, deepening the military cooperation between the two U.S.-sanctioned countries.
