Iran-US diplomacy reaffirmed at UN, but divide over nuclear deal remains deep

Iran and the United States reaffirmed their commitments to diplomacy at a contentious meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday but the gap between the Trump administration and the Islamic Republic on a nuclear deal remains wide and deepThe sixth round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran had been scheduled for soon after Israels 12day war with Iran in June during which the US joined Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear sites The talks were cancelled and in September Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected any direct nuclear negotiations with the United StatesBut Irans UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the Security Council that Iran remains fully committed to principled diplomacy and genuine negotiations And said its now up to France Britain and the US to reverse course and take concrete credible steps to restore trust and confidenceHe said Iran remains committed to the core principles of the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in which Iran had agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions President Donald Trump in 2018 pulled the US out of the agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council plus GermanyIn a rare public exchange between diplomats from the two countries US Mission counsellor Morgan Ortagus a Trump ally and former State Department spokesperson said The United States remains available for formal talks with Iran but only if Tehran is prepared for direct and meaningful dialogue Ortagus said Trump extended the hand of diplomacy to Iran during both of his administrationsBut instead of taking that hand of diplomacy you continue to put your hand in the fire she said looking directly at Iravani Step away from the fire sir and take President Trumps hand of diplomacy Its extended to you She stressed however that the Trump administration has been clear that there can be no enrichment of nuclear material inside Iran a major point of contentionIrvani said the US insistence on zero enrichment was contrary to Irans rights under the 2015 deal and showed the US was not pursuing fair negotiations He said if France and Britain continued to side with the US diplomacy will be effectively destroyed Iran will not bow down to any pressure and intimidation Irvani said In September the agreements three Western members Britain France and Germany triggered a snapback mechanism to reinstate the sanctions that had been lifted citing Irans failure to comply with the deals conditionsAs tensions between Tehran and Washington have increased Iran has accelerated its production of uranium to near weaponsgrade The UN nuclear watchdog the Viennabased International Atomic Energy Agency has reported that Iran has over 440 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent a short technical step away from weaponsgrade levels of 90 per centFrances deputy UN ambassador Jay Dharmadhikari defended the snapback of UN sanctions saying that since 2019 Iran has been in increasingly flagrant violation of all limitations designed to guarantee that its nuclear program remains peaceful But he said the reimposition of sanctions does not mean the end of efforts to find a diplomatic solutionRussias UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia shot back telling the French envoy You failed miserably in your socalled diplomatic efforts to strike a deal on the nuclear issue with Iran and you know itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever