Ammon News - Iran is ready to consider compromises to reach a nuclear deal with the US if the Americans are willing to discuss lifting sanctions, an Iranian minister has told the BBC.

US officials have repeatedly emphasised that Iran, not the US, is holding up progress in this protracted negotiating process.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump preferred a deal but it was "very hard to do" one with Iran.

But in an interview with the BBC in Tehran, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, said the ball was "in America's court to prove that they want to do a deal", adding: "If they are sincere, I'm sure we will be on the road to an agreement."

Trump has threatened strikes against Iran if a deal to curb its nuclear programme cannot be reached, with the US building up its military presence in the region.

This followed Iran's violent repression of nationwide anti-government protests last month, which human rights groups say killed many thousands of people.

The US and Iran held indirect talks in the Gulf state of Oman earlier in February, and Takht-Ravanchi, who confirmed a second round was set to take place in Geneva on Tuesday, said they had been "more or less in a positive direction but it is too early to judge". Trump has also described those talks as positive.

The deputy foreign minister pointed to Tehran's offer to dilute its 60%-enriched uranium as evidence of its willingness to compromise.

At near weapons-grade level, it has deepened suspicion that the Islamic Republic is moving towards the development of a nuclear weapon, something it has always denied.

"We are ready to discuss this and other issues related to our programme if they are ready to talk about sanctions," Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC. He would not confirm whether this meant lifting all or some sanctions.

As to whether Iran would agree to ship its stockpile of more than 400kg of highly enriched uranium out of Iran, as it did in the 2015 nuclear deal, Takht-Ravanchi said "it was too early to say what will happen in the course of negotiations".

Russia, which accepted 11,000kg of uranium enriched to a low level as part of the 2015 multilateral accord that Trump pulled out of three years later, has offered to accept this material again.

Other proposals previously reported in the media include an offer from Tehran to temporarily suspend nuclear enrichment.

One of Iran's main demands has been that talks should focus only on the nuclear file, and Takht-Ravanchi said: "Our understanding is that they have come to the conclusion that if you want to have a deal you have to focus on the nuclear issue."

If confirmed, this would represent a key step forward for Iran. It has viewed Washington's maximalist demands for zero enrichment as an obstacle to any deal.

Iran regards that as a red line, a violation of its rights under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

BBC