NEW YORK, November 19. /TASS/. Tehran is ready to resume nuclear talks with Washington but won’t shift its conditions, Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told CNN.
"They have to make the first move to show that they are ready to engage with us on the conditions that we put," he pointed out, adding: "It has to be based on equal footing and mutual respect."
According to Kharrazi, the degree of uranium enrichment, not enrichment itself, would be the focus of potential negotiations with the US. "If there would be genuine negotiations between Iran and the United States, there are ways and means (of) how to ensure that Iran can continue its enrichment and at the same time assure the others that it’s not going to look for nuclear weapons," Kharrazi emphasized.
He added that Tehran’s ballistic missile program will also be off the negotiating table. "It is only the nuclear issue we will discuss with the United States," the Iranian official said.
Kharrazi called on US President Donald Trump to "start with a positive approach with Iran." "But for that, they (the US) have to refrain from any force against Iran," he said.
Asked if he is concerned about another military confrontation with the US or Israel, the Iranian official said: "Everything is possible. But we are ready for that."
Overnight into June 13, Israel launched a military operation against Iran. Less than 24 hours later, Tehran retaliated. Nine days later, in the early hours of June 22, US jets targeted three Iranian nuclear sites, effectively entering the conflict. The following evening, Tehran carried out a missile strike on Al Udeid, the largest US military base in the region, located in Qatar. According to US officials, there were no casualties or significant damage. Trump announced later that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire. The truce took effect on June 24.