Iran Says Nuclear Talks Will Fail If US Pushes for Zero Enrichment

Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Iran Says Nuclear Talks Will Fail If US Pushes for Zero Enrichment

Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran's and US' flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States "will lead nowhere" if Washington insists that Tehran drop its uranium enrichment activity to zero, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takhtravanchi was quoted by state media on Monday as saying. 

US special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterated Washington's stance on Sunday that any new deal between the US and Iran must include an agreement to refrain from enrichment, a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear energy program has entirely peaceful purposes. 

"Our position on enrichment is clear and we have repeatedly stated that it is a national achievement from which we will not back down," Takhtravanchi said. 

During his visit to the Gulf region last week, US President Donald Trump said a deal was very close but that Iran needed to move quickly to resolve the decades-long dispute. 

Washington is complicating negotiations by expressing views in public different from what is discussed privately during talks, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday. 

"Despite hearing contradictory statements from the Americans, we are still participating in negotiations," Esmail Baghaei added. 

A fifth round of talks is expected to take place in Rome this weekend pending confirmation, an Iranian official told Reuters. 

During his first, 2017-21 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's enrichment activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions. 

Trump, who branded the 2015 accord one-sided in Iran's favor, also reimposed sweeping US sanctions on Iran, that responded by escalating enrichment. 

 



Russia's Drones and Missile Barrage Targets Ukraine's West, Kills Two

An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
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Russia's Drones and Missile Barrage Targets Ukraine's West, Kills Two

An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Russia launched a new barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, targeting the west of the country and killing at least two people in the city of Chernivtsi on the border with Romania.

Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks, and other Ukrainian regions were also hit, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said.

"Russia continues to escalate its terror, launching another barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, damaging residential areas, killing and injuring civilians," Sybiha said in a post on X, reiterating the call for stronger sanctions against Moscow.

"Russia’s war machine produces hundreds of means of terror per day. Its scale poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire transatlantic community." Ruslan Zaparaniuk, the governor of the Chernivetskyi region, said that two people were killed and 14 others wounded as Russian drones and a missile struck the city, located about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Ukraine's border with Romania.

Several fires broke out across the city, and residential houses and administrative buildings were damaged, regional officials said.

In the city of Lviv, on Ukraine's border with Poland, 46 residential houses, a university building, the city's courts, and about 20 buildings housing small and medium-sized businesses were damaged in the attack, mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.