Minister says Iran still willing to negotiate with U.S.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran is not ruling out negotiations with the United States, even after a drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, the country’s foreign minister said in an interview released Saturday.

Mohammed Javad Zarif told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine that he would “never rule out the possibility that people will change their approach and recognize the realities,” in an interview conducted Friday in Tehran.

Though Zarif suggested Iran was still willing to talk, he reiterated his country’s previous demand that first the U.S. would have to lift sanctions.

“For us, it doesn’t matter who is sitting in the White House, what matters is how they behave,” he said, according to Der Spiegel. “The Trump administration can correct its past, lift the sanctions and come back to the negotiating table. We’re still at the negotiating table. They’re the ones who left.”

Trump rejected Zarif ’s remarks via Twitter. “Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran wants to negotiate with The United States, but wants sanctions removed,” he tweeted, then added, “No Thanks!”

Also Saturday, Ali Asghar Zarean, an aide to Iran’s nuclear chief, said the country’s enriched uranium stockpile has exceeded 2,646 pounds, which is far beyond the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers allowed.

“Iran is increasing its stockpile of the enriched uranium with full speed,” he said.

Following the drone strike on Jan. 3 that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the terrorist Quds Force, Iran announced it would no longer abide by any of the deal’s limitations to its enrichment activities.

In November, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium had grown to 821 pounds.

Mohammed Javad Zarif