Iran rejects US nuclear talks conditioned on enrichment halt
Washington and Tehran had been engaged in several rounds of negotiations seeking to strike a deal on the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, but
Israel derailed the talks when it launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, touching off
12 days of war
Since the end of the hostilities, both Iran and the United States have signalled a willingness to return to the table, though Tehran has said it will not renounce its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power.
'If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,' Ali Velayati, an adviser to Iranian leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.
The remarks came after foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for any meeting with the United States.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei holds a weekly press conference in Tehran. Photo: AFP
'For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,' Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
PLA offers back-to-back drill updates as Taiwan's Han Kuang exercise ramps up
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has stepped up messaging about its round-the-clock military drills conducted in an apparent response to Taiwan 's annual Han Kuang exercise For four consecutive days this week, the PLA's Eastern Theatre Command – the division responsible for overseeing the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea – has given daily updates on cross-service military drills that appear to correspond to the exercises in Taiwan. Taiwan's 10-day Han Kuang exercise, which began on July 9 and wraps up on Friday, is the largest and longest in its 41-year history. A PLA KJ-500 early-warning aircraft crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait on Monday, according to the island's defence ministry. Photo: The details of the PLA drills were released in a way that suggests they involved coordination of various forces in the command and operations during both daytime and night activities. The exact dates of these exercises were not specified, with the PLA claiming only that they had taken place 'in recent days', but the timing of the releases matched the drills in Taiwan. The activities monitored by Taipei suggested ramped-up pressure from the PLA at around the same time. On Monday, the Eastern Theatre Command said its naval aviation wing had conducted nighttime flight training to 'further hammer the pilots' technical and tactical levels', according to a social media post. Warplane pilots reportedly used stars for navigation and simulated dogfights in complex manoeuvres.
South China Morning Post
20 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Israel PM Netanyahu's fate in the balance as another party quits government
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost another coalition partner amid an ongoing row over mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men, with the Shas party reportedly quitting the government on Wednesday. The ultra-Orthodox party said it was giving up all its posts in government, Israeli media reported. However, Shas is not joining the opposition, the party stressed. It was initially unclear what this meant for Netanyahu's majority in parliament. Opposition leader Yair Lapid claimed that Israel was being led by a minority government following Shas' withdrawal, while some outlets also reported that Netanyahu's government had lost its majority in parliament. However, the ynet news website wrote that Shas would not completely break away from the government factions in parliament, meaning Netanyahu's governing alliance would be able to cling on to a razor-thin majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Seven ministers and deputy ministers of the Shas party are reportedly set to resign, including Interior Minister Moshe Arbel and Health Minister Uriel Buso.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- South China Morning Post
How easing of AI chip controls could reshape US-China trade talks
The United States' decision to ease export restrictions on certain advanced chips – part of a broader package of trade agreements with China – is seen by experts as an early sign that high-level negotiations have steered bilateral relations in the right direction. Washington's move to resume license application reviews for Nvidia's H20 AI and Advanced Micro Devices's MI308 AI chips comes ahead of talks between senior officials from both nations in the coming weeks, despite a protracted strategic stand-off over tech and export controls. Zhuang Bo, global macro strategist at Loomis Sayles Investment Asia, said the development was a clear win for China – effectively resetting the clock to March, before rare earths became a geopolitical chokepoint. 'It signals that Beijing is inching closer to the G2-style negotiations it has long sought, framed in official rhetoric as a call for 'mutual respect and equality.'' While the reality on the ground has not changed much, the situation has not deteriorated, he added. 'Whether there will be a Xi-Trump summit later this year will be crucial. If that happens, a partial agreement is still possible.' On Tuesday, AMD said the US Department of Commerce was reviewing its licence applications to export MI308 chips to China, and that sales would resume once approved.
