Message from the Iranian main diplomat came hours after Trump announced that the two rivals would start “direct conversations” on Saturday, looking for an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program
Iran has confirmed on Tuesday that it will maintain negotiations about its nuclear program with the United States, but has insisted that it will be indirect contacts through intermediaries contrary to US President Donald Trump’s announcement.
“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for high-level indirect contacts,” Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi said in a publication on social network X.
“It’s an opportunity and a test. The ball is on the United States,” he added.
So far, Iran has always said that any contact with the United States would be indirect, through intermediaries, which conflicts Trump’s position.
The message from the Iranian main diplomat came hours after Trump announced that the two rivals would start “direct conversations” on Saturday in search of an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.
“We will have direct conversations with Iran and they will start on Saturday. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
The president emphasized that negotiations with Iran, a country with which he has no diplomatic relations, will be direct and not through intermediaries, and which will involve “almost the highest levels” authorities.
Trump said he would come to an agreement “it would be preferable to make the obvious,” in apparent reference to a hypothetical attack on Iran, and said the situation with the Persian country “is becoming very dangerous,” expressing hope that negotiations “successful”.
The Republican sent a letter to Iran via the United Arab Emirates asking for negotiations about the nuclear program and repeatedly threatened to bombard the country if an agreement was not reached.
Tehran responded on March 26, with the message informing that he would be willing to talk indirectly with Washington, given the US president’s military threats and the imposition of new sanctions to cut off Iranian oil sales.
During his first term (2017-2021), Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 agreement between Iran and other powers, which established strict boundaries to Temerão’s nuclear activities, in exchange for relief of sanctions.
Since then, Iran has enriched uranium far beyond the limits allowed by the extinct agreement and now has 274 kilos of 60% purity enriched uranium, close to 90% of military degree, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA).
