High-ranking Chinese, Iranian and Russian diplomats met in Beijing today for talks on the Iranian nuclear issue, days after Iran rejected US demands to resume dialogue on its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse and Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"The three sides expressed their views on the Iranian nuclear issue and other issues of mutual interest", the state-run China Central Television reported. The discussions were attended by the deputy foreign ministers of China, Russia and Iran, Ma Zhaoxu. Sergey Ryabkov and Kazem Garibabadi.
In 2015 Iran reached a deal with the United States, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and China, accepting limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. But in 2018, Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal.
This week, Trump said he had sent a letter to Iranian leaders offering talks on the nuclear program. The West fears Tehran is rapidly moving closer to the possibility of building a nuclear weapon.
However, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he would not negotiate with the United States while he was "threatened" and that Iran would not take "orders" from the US to negotiate, Reuters recalls.
Iran will decide how to respond to US President Donald Trump's letter calling for nuclear talks with Tehran after evaluating it, Iranian diplomatic spokesman Esmail Baghai said, quoted by Agence France-Presse and BTA.
The letter "is currently being studied" and "the decision on how to respond will be made after a thorough assessment and study", Baghai told the media.
Trump said he was ready to talk to Tehran about a nuclear deal and revealed that he had written a letter to Iranian leaders to that effect, warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
Iran said it had received the letter on Wednesday, which was delivered by senior United Arab Emirates diplomat Anwar Gargash.
Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic relations since 1980. since.
Bagai did not specify whether the letter was delivered to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all strategic decisions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country would not negotiate as long as Trump continued his policy of "maximum pressure", AFP recalls.