Iran floats offer on nuclear inspections; US sceptical

Iranon Thursday signalled a willingness to engage in diplomacy to defuse tensions with the United States with a modest offer on its nuclear programme that met immediate scepticism in Washington.

Iran's foreign minister told reporters in New York thatIrancould immediately ratify a document prescribing more intrusive inspections of its nuclear programme if the United States abandoned its economic sanctions, media organizations reported.

The document, known as the Additional Protocol, gives UN inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) more tools to verify that a nuclear programme is peaceful.

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While US officials suggested they viewed the idea as a non-starter, analysts said it could provide an opening for US President Donald Trump's administration to pursue diplomacy.

"If Trump wants more for more, we can ratify the Additional Protocol and he can lift the sanctions he set," the Guardian newspaper quotedIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as telling reporters.

However, sinceIranis already implementing the protocol and has often offered in the past to ratify it, it was not clear that Zarif's proposal constituted much of a concession.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal agreed to by Tehran,Iranmust seek ratification of the protocol eight years after the deal was adopted. That would be the same time that the United States must seek permanent termination of many of its sanctions onIran.

US officials responded sceptically, suggesting it was a disingenuous effort to get sanctions relief.

"Their whole game is to try to get any sanctions relief they can while maintaining the ability to get a nuclear weapon in the future," said an official on condition of anonymity, sayingIran was "trying to spin a small action into" something bigger.

The official noted that under the offer,Iranwould keep enriching uranium, a process that can produce fissile material for nuclear weapons, and would do nothing to rein in its support for regional proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

A second US official was also dismissive.

"IfIranwants to make a serious gesture, it should start by ending uranium enrichment immediately and having an actual decision-maker attempt to negotiate a deal that includes a permanent end toIran’s malign nuclear ambitions, including its development of nuclear-capable missiles," said the official.

US-Iranian tensions have increased since Trump's decision last year to abandon the nuclear deal thatIranstruck with six major powers in 2015 under which it agreed to rein in its atomic programme in return for broad relief from economic sanctions.

Relations have deteriorated since May when Trump tightened US sanctions onIranto try to choke off its oil exports, the main source of foreign exchange and government revenues for the Islamic Republic.

Washington is trying to force Tehran to agree to stricter limits on its nuclear capacity, curb its ballistic missile programme and end support for proxy forces in a regional power struggle with US-backed Gulf Arab states.

Fears of direct US-Iranian conflict have risen since May with several attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf,Iran's downing of a US surveillance drone and a plan for US airstrikes onIranlast month that Trump called off at the last minute.