The US must rule out any further strikes on Iran if it wants to resume diplomatic talks, Tehran's deputy foreign minister has told the
BBC.
Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the Trump administration told Iran through mediators that it wanted to return to negotiations this week, but had not made its position clear on the "very important question" of further attacks while talks are taking place.
The US and Iran were involved in talks over Iran's nuclear programme when Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites and military infrastructure earlier this month and Iran responded with missiles.
The US became directly involved in the conflict on 21 June when it bombed three of Iran's nuclear sites.
Takht-Ravanchi also said Iran would "insist" on being able to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful purposes, rejecting accusations that it is secretly moving towards developing a nuclear bomb.
He said Iran had been "denied access to nuclear material" for its research programme so they needed "to rely on ourselves".
"The level of that can be discussed, the capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not have enrichment, you should have zero enrichment, and if do you not agree, we will bomb you - that is the law of the jungle," the deputy foreign minister said.
Israel began its attacks, targeting nuclear and military sites as well as assassinating commanders and scientists, in Iran on 13 June, saying Tehran was close to building a nuclear weapon.
Iran responded by attacking Israel and hostilities continued for 12 days, during which time the US dropped bombs on three of Iran's nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
The extent of the damage caused to Iran's nuclear programme by US strikes has been unclear, and Takht-Ravanchi said he could not give an exact assessment.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the strikes caused severe but "not total" damage, while US President Donald Trump declared that Iran's nuclear facilities were "totally obliterated".
Grossi also said Iran had the capacity to start enriching uranium again in "a matter of months". In response, Takht-Ravanchi said he did not know if that would be the case.
