ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior Iranian official indicated on Friday that Tehran would be willing to enter into a new nuclear agreement with the incoming administration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, but that it has conditions.
“If the new American officials say that they are only against Iranian nuclear weapons, they should accept Iran's conditions in exchange,” Ali Larijani, advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said in a post on X.
Tehran’s conditions, Larijani explained, include compensation for the damages caused when the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear pact.
The US should “accept the necessary conditions… so that a new agreement can be reached,” he said.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions. The deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under Trump’s first administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed a sanction regime of “maximum pressure” on the Islamic republic.
During his campaign for re-election, Trump said he was open to an agreement with Iran. Speaking to reporters in New York in September about the nuclear deal, he said, “We have to make a deal because the consequences are impossible,” Politico reported.
Trump's policies toward Iran after he officially assumes office in the White House on January 20 are yet to be seen, though several of his picks for cabinet positions are known for their hawkish stance on Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who assumed office this summer, has prioritized diplomacy in his foreign policy.
After the US withdrew from the JCPOA, Tehran stepped up its nuclear enrichment efforts.
“Iran started its enrichment and raised the degree of purity above 60%,” Larijani said, blaming the US for breaking the JCPOA.
On Thursday, nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution censuring Iran for its poor cooperation with the agency and calling on Tehran to explain the presence of uranium particles at two undeclared locations. Iran responded by announcing on Friday that it would begin operating new “advanced centrifuges.”
Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and it is not seeking to develop a weapon.
