Iran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear program but will not bow to pressure, Iran’s foreign minister told the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday, as European countries push for a diplomatic exit ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

“The ball is in the EU/E3 court,” Foreign Minister Abbas Arahtsi wrote on X after talks in Tehran with IAEA chief Raphael Grossi, referring to the three European countries – France, Britain and Germany – representing the West along with the United States in the nuclear talks.

“We are willing to negotiate based on our national interest and our inalienable rights, but we are not ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation,” Arahtsi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media. “I hope the other side will adopt a rational policy.”

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would send a message to the three European powers through International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi about Tehran’s seriousness in resolving its nuclear issue, while stressing that any pressure on Tehran it would have the opposite effect.

Diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday that Britain, France and Germany are pushing for a new resolution against Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s council next week to pressure Tehran over what they see as “poor cooperation” on the nuclear issue. program.

Grossi, in a televised joint news conference with Iran’s nuclear chief, urged Tehran to take steps to resolve the remaining issues.

“It is in our power here to take concrete steps that will clearly show to the US and the international community that we can clear things up and move forward with concrete solutions,” Grossi said.

Grossi met with Iranian President Massoud Pezhezkian for the first time since Pezhezkian’s election in July. The Iranian president told Grossi that Tehran is ready to work with the IAEA to clarify “alleged ambiguities” about Tehran’s nuclear project, state media reported.

Trump’s return to power as US president in January reverses “nuclear diplomacy” with Iran, which had stalled under the outgoing Joe Biden administration after months of indirect talks.

During Trump’s previous term, Washington rejected a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

On Tuesday, Pezheskian, who is considered a relative moderate, said Tehran would not be able to ignore its archenemy, the United States, and that it must “treat its enemies with tolerance.”

Trump has not fully clarified whether he will continue the “maximum pressure” policy on Iran when he takes office.

Troubled relationships

Relations between Tehran and the IAEA have soured over several long-standing issues, including Iran’s ban on the agency’s uranium enrichment experts from the country and its failure to explain traces of uranium found in undeclared locations.

In August, the agency said Iran’s production of highly enriched uranium continued, and that it had not improved cooperation with it, despite a resolution passed by the IAEA’s Board of Governors in June.

Grossi, who has long sought progress with Tehran on its fast-moving nuclear project, said: “Inspections are only one chapter of our cooperation, and they cannot be discussed.”

The US withdrawal from the nuclear pact in 2018 and the reimposition of sanctions prompted Tehran to violate restrictions on uranium enrichment – seen by the West as a veiled effort to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

Tehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, close to the roughly 90% required for an atomic bomb. Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran’s reaction to a resolution could be to limit diplomatic and technical cooperation with the IAEA.

On Friday Grossi is scheduled to visit Iran’s Natanz nuclear power plant and its Fordow plant, which is dug into a mountain.