WASHINGTON, Feb 20 - Iran's foreign minister said on Friday that discussions held this week in Geneva did not include a U.S. demand for zero uranium enrichment, and that Iran did not put forward an offer to halt its enrichment activities.
Abbas Araqchi, speaking in an interview on MS NOW, said negotiators were focused on establishing guarantees that "Iran's nuclear program, including enrichment, is peaceful and would remain peaceful forever." He dismissed the idea that either side had proposed the binary positions of zero enrichment or a suspension of enrichment.
"We have not offered any suspension and the U.S. side has not asked for zero enrichment," Araqchi said.
Araqchi said both technical and political "confidence building measures" would be implemented to assure the peaceful nature of Iran's program. He linked those measures to reciprocation from the international side in the form of "some kind of action on sanctions," but he provided no further detail on what those sanction actions would entail.
The foreign minister did not provide specific timing for a formal counterproposal aimed at U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but he expressed a view that a diplomatic agreement was attainable. He said he thought a deal could be reached "in a very short period of time," and that he expected to present a draft to the envoys "in the next two or three days" with additional discussions to follow "in a week or so."
The remarks come against the backdrop of a recent statement by U.S. President Donald Trump, who on Thursday set Tehran a deadline of 10-15 days to secure a deal or face "really bad things." Araqchi's comments also come amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East that has raised concerns about the potential for a broader conflict.
The exchanges in Geneva, as described by Araqchi, suggest negotiators are parsing technical and political confidence-building steps rather than demanding an immediate halt to enrichment or insisting on zero enrichment as a condition. Araqchi's indication of an imminent draft offer points to continued diplomatic engagement in the very near term, though details on sanctions relief and the precise measures to ensure peaceful intent remain unspecified.