Iran Guards say military capabilities 'red lines' in US talks; US demands verification

Iran Guards say military capabilities 'red lines' in US talks; US demands verification
by AFP Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) April 15, 2025

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tuesday the country's military capabilities were off limits, ahead of a second round of talks with the United States on its nuclear programme.

"National security and defence and military power are among the red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which cannot be discussed or negotiated under any circumstances," Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran and the United States will hold another round of talks in Muscat on Saturday, a week after top officials met in the Omani capital for the highest-level discussions since the 2015 nuclear deal collapsed.

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the 2015 deal during his first term, has reinstated his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran since returning to office in January.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for nuclear talks and warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.

Trump addressed reporters on Monday regarding Iran, saying "I'll solve that problem" and "That's almost an easy one".

The US leader also threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and called Iranian authorities "radicals" who should not possess nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied seeking an atomic bomb, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, especially the provision of energy.

- 'Axis of resistance' -

Late Sunday, Iran's official IRNA news agency said the country's regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its "red lines" in the talks.

Tehran supports the "axis of resistance" -- a network of militant groups opposed to Israel, including Yemen's Huthi rebels, the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Shiite militia groups in Iraq.

On April 12, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for "indirect" talks, according to Iranian officials and media.

The talks were the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of the 2015 accord, formally known is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The accord offered Iran relief from international sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Both Tehran and Washington, enemies who have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, have called the latest round of negotiations "constructive".

Araghchi's office has said he will travel to Moscow at the end of this week for talks with Russia, a close ally of Iran and party to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Moscow welcomed the Iran-US talks as it pushed for a diplomatic solution and warned any military confrontation would be a "global catastrophe".

Trump envoy says verification 'key point' in Iran talks
Washington (AFP) April 15, 2025 - Any nuclear deal between the United States and Iran will hinge on verification of Tehran's enrichment and weaponization capabilities, President Donald Trump's special envoy said Monday.

"The first meeting, was positive, constructive, compelling," Steve Witkoff, who led the US delegation to talks last week in Oman, said in a televised Fox News interview.

Witkoff appeared to stop short of calling for a complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, saying "this is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program."

"They do not need to enrich past 3.67 percent," the real estate magnate said, referencing the maximum level allowed under the prior nuclear agreement that Trump exited during his first term, in 2018.

"In some circumstances, they're at 60 percent, in other circumstances 20 percent," Witkoff said. "That cannot be, and you do not need to run, as they claim, a civil nuclear program where you're enriching past 3.67 percent."

The multi-party 2015 deal that Trump abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear program.

The latest International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, nearing the weapons grade of 90 percent.

Verification of "weaponization" capabilities will be another "critical" point in the negotiations with Iran, Witkoff said.

"That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there, and it includes the trigger for a bomb," he told Fox host Sean Hannity.

"The devil will be in the details" of any formal document, he said, adding "hopefully we'll have that high quality problem of getting a document drafted."

"But verification will be the key point that undergirds this agreement."