The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied reports that Iran has proposed “direct” nuclear talks with the United States, and possibly even a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian.
Israel’s Ynet News reported on Wednesday that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has “approached President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and requested to conduct direct negotiations with the United States” because Araghchi is “frustrated” with the mediation provided by the Sultanate of Oman.
“If direct negotiations are ultimately not agreed upon, the option of Norwegian mediation is being considered,” Ynet claimed.
Talks in Oman were described as “positive” and “constructive” by both the U.S. and Iran last month, but the fourth round of talks — to be held in Rome in early May, but once again mediated by Oman — were abruptly postponed by Iran for “logistical and technical reasons.”
The fourth round of talks is now scheduled to be held in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Sunday.
These talks have been “indirect” so far, which means the negotiators from both America and Iran are in the same place, but they pass messages through the Omani mediators, rather than speaking with each other directly. They have met and shook hands on prior occasions, however, challenging Iran’s definition of “direct” versus “indirect.”
Oman claimed on Tuesday it also helped to mediate the ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump between the United States and the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei on Wednesday dismissed the Ynet report as “fabricated and baseless.”
“There have also been media speculations that Trump may meet Pezeshkian during his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia to push the nuclear talks forward,” Iran’s state-run PressTV reported, implying that Baqaei also took a dim view of such speculation.
Iranian international affairs analyst Kiomars Yazdanpanah said during an interview with state television network IRIB on Tuesday that Trump might seek a meeting with the president of Iran during his visit to Saudi Arabia next week.
“Given Trump’s comments about making important announcements, there is a possibility that he is seeking dialogue with Iranian political figures, or possibly President Pezeshkian,” Yazdanpanah said.
Pezeshkian publicly rejected the idea of negotiating directly with the United States on May 30 in response to a letter written by Trump that suggested meeting without intermediaries.
“Although the possibility of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected in this response, it has been emphasized that the path for indirect negotiations remains open,” Pezeshkian said.
Trump has evinced little enthusiasm for meeting with Pezeshkian in recent interviews. He told NBC News last weekend that he will accept nothing less than “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program, because otherwise “the world will be destroyed.”
Trump brushed aside Iran’s insistence that it only wants nuclear power for peaceful civilian uses.
“You know, civilian energy often leads to military wars. And we don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
On Wednesday, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that Iran’s uranium centrifuges are going to stop spinning, one way or the other.
“I would much prefer a strong, verified deal where we actually blow them up, but blow them up or just de-nuke them. But the other alternative, there are only two alternatives there: blow them up nicely or blow them up viciously,” Trump said.
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