Iran president hopes for deal with US
TEHRAN
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday he hopes a deal can be reached with the United States, as the two countries prepare for a second round of nuclear talks this weekend.
"We would naturally welcome the conclusion of an agreement" with the U.S., Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Pezeshkian as saying during a cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said yesterday that Russia was ready to do "everything" in its powers to help find a diplomatic resolution to the stand-off between the United States and Iran.
Moscow, which commands the world's largest confirmed arsenal of nuclear weapons, has deepened its military ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.
"The Russian Federation remains ready to do everything within our capabilities to contribute to the settlement of the situation by political and diplomatic means," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He was responding to a question from AFP over whether Moscow would consider being a guarantor of any deal.
An Iranian MP had raised the possibility of Russia and China being joint guarantors of any future agreement in an interview with Russia's state-run RIA Novosti.
Iranian and U.S. officials held indirect talks in Oman last week, the highest-level meeting between the two sides since President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear deal in 2018.
Pezeshkian formally approved the resignation of one of his vice presidents who served as Tehran's key negotiator in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, just as the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog was due to arrive in the Islamic republic on yesterday.
Mohammad Javad Zarif served as a key supporter of Pezeshkian in his election last year but drew criticism from hard-liners within Iran's Shiite theocracy, who long have alleged Zarif gave away too much in negotiations.
In March, he tendered his resignation to Pezeshkian. However, the president did not immediately respond to the letter. Zarif has used resignation announcements in the past in his political career as leverage, including in a dispute last year over the composition of Pezeshkian’s cabinet.
The president had rejected that resignation. But late on April 15, a statement from the presidency said Pezeshkian wrote Zarif a letter praising him but accepting his resignation.
