Iran renews call for diplomacy, says war disrupted historic deal

• Iran, US were close to breakthrough before Israel war, says FM.
• Says US should show readiness for 'equitable accord.'
• Trump says fresh talks 'scheduled', will like to end sanctions.

Iran remains interested in diplomacy, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on Tuesday, adding that he and US President Donald Trump's special envoy had been "on the cusp of a historic breakthrough" before the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war.

The comments, contained in an article written by Araqchi and published in the Financial Times newspaper, offered praise for Trump's earlier negotiating efforts in a further indication that talks over Iran's nuclear programme may soon restart.

"In only five meetings over nine weeks, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and I achieved more than I did in four years of nuclear negotiations with the failed Biden administration. We were on the cusp of a historic breakthrough," he wrote.

Araqchi said they were 48 hours from a pivotal sixth meeting when Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and ballistic missiles on June 13.

The air war between Iran and Israel lasted 12 days, during which Trump ordered US bombers to pound Iranian underground nuclear facilities.

Araqchi acknowledged having received messages indicating Washington may be ready to return to negotiations. He noted the US was one of six countries to sign a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, only to withdraw in 2018 under the first Trump presidency.

"Iran remains interested in diplomacy but we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue. If there is a desire to resolve this amicably, the US should show genuine readiness for an equitable accord," Araqchi wrote.

During a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night, Trump told reporters: "We have scheduled Iran talks, and they ... want to talk."

Witkoff then said the meeting would take place in the next week or so.

Trump told the reporters he would like to lift sanctions on Iran at some point. "I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off," he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview released on Monday that he believed Iran could resolve its differences with the United States through dialogue.

On Tuesday, a French diplomatic source said European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The source spoke after a call between French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his British counterpart David Lammy ahead of a Franco-British summit.