TEHRAN: Iran will not negotiate under “intimidation” as US President-elect Donald Trump held critical talks with the UN nuclear chief weeks before he took office, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday (November 14).

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said achieving “results” in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to prevent a new conflict in the region already inflamed by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon .

His visit came just days after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran was “more exposed than ever to attacks on its nuclear facilities,” giving Israel “the opportunity to achieve our most important goal.”

Grossi said Iran’s nuclear facilities “should not be attacked” but Trump is expected to respond Since taking office in January, Israel has much more free rein.

The IAEA chief described his meeting with Araghchi as “indispensable” in an X-related post.

Araghchi was Iran’s chief negotiator in the talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers that was canceled by Trump three years later.

Araghchi stated that their meeting was “important and simple”.

He said Iran was “willing to negotiate” on the basis of “national interests” and “inalienable rights” but was not “ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation.”

“We agreed to move forward with courage and good faith. Iran has never left the negotiating table regarding its peaceful nuclear program,” he said.

Grossi also met with the head of Iran’s atomic energy organization, Mohammed Eslami.

Eslami said at the joint press conference that Iran would take “urgent countermeasures” against the sanctions imposed by the IAEA board.

“Any interventionist decision in the nuclear affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly be met with immediate countermeasures,” Eslami said. he said.

Grossi’s second visit to Tehran this year is his first since Trump’s re-election.

During his first term in the White House, from 2017 to 2021, Trump adopted a policy called “maximum pressure” It reimposed sweeping US economic sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 agreement.

SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS

In response, Iran began gradually rolling back its commitments under the agreement, which prevented it from increasing its uranium enrichment beyond 3.65 percent.

IAEA says Iran has significantly expanded its scope Stockpiles of uranium enriched up to 60 percentThis level triggered international alarm because it was much closer to the 90 percent level required for a nuclear warhead.

Iran blamed the new US president for the tension.

“It was America, not Iran, that left the agreement,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Wednesday. he said.

“Mr. Trump once tried the maximum pressure route and found that it didn’t work.”

Trump’s return to the White House in January further fueled international fears of an all-out conflict between Israel and Iran after the arch-foes launched unprecedented direct attacks earlier this year.

“Margins for maneuver are starting to narrow,” Grossi warned in an interview with AFP on Tuesday, adding that “it is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions.”