By Jonathan Spicer and Parisa Hafezi
ISTANBUL, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Iran is prepared for the resumption of talks with the United States, but they should be fair and not include Iran’s defence capabilities, Iran’s chief diplomat said on Friday, as regional powers work to prevent military conflict between the two foes.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he planned to speak with Iran, even as the U.S. sent another warship to the Middle East and the Pentagon chief said the military would be ready to carry out whatever the president decided.
U.S.-Iranian tensions have soared in recent weeks after a bloody crackdown on protests across Iran by its clerical authorities.
One of the main U.S. demands as a condition for resuming talks with Iran is curbing its missile programme, a senior Iranian official told Reuters last week. Iran rejects that demand.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran was ready to participate in “fair and equitable” negotiations, but added there were currently no meetings with U.S. officials arranged.
“Iran has no problem with negotiations, but negotiations cannot take place under the shadow of threats. They must certainly set aside their threats and change their approach toward a fair and equitable negotiation, as Mr. Trump himself said in his post,” he said.
TEHRAN SAYS IT IS READY FOR TALKS OR WAR
“I should also state unequivocally that Iran’s defensive and missile capabilities — and Iran’s missiles — will never be the subject of any negotiations,” he added.
“We will preserve and expand our defensive capabilities to whatever extent is necessary to defend the country,” Araqchi said.
Regional allies, including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, have been engaging in diplomatic efforts to prevent a military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
In response to U.S. threats of military action, Araqchi said Tehran was ready for either negotiations or warfare, and also ready to engage with regional countries to promote stability and peace.
Araqchi and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said they had been speaking to each other almost every day to discuss the tensions.
TURKEY READY TO BE ‘FACILITATOR’
U.S. officials say Trump is reviewing his options but has not decided whether to strike Iran.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if Iran continued to kill protesters in its crackdown on the countrywide demonstrations over economic privations and political repression, but the protests have since abated.
Israel’s Ynet news website said on Friday that a U.S. Navy destroyer had docked at the Israeli port of Eilat.
NATO member Turkey shares a border with Iran and opposes any foreign intervention there. It has called for U.S.-Iran dialogue to avoid further destabilisation and has been in touch with both sides to seek a solution.
Earlier on Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a call that Ankara was ready to play a “facilitator” role between the sides.
Speaking alongside Araqchi, Fidan said he had long discussions on the issue with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday and would keep lines open with Washington to avoid conflict and the isolation of Iran.
Fidan said U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations must restart and would pave the way to lifting sanctions on Iran. “We call the parties to the negotiating table” to address the issues “one by one,” he said.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Jonathan Spicer, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Tala Ramadan and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Alison Williams, Aidan Lewis)
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