Iran addresses rumors of meeting that would restart nuclear program negotiations with US
Tehran, Iran - Iran said Monday it had "no specific date" for a meeting with the US to restart negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program.
"For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter," said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei, when asked about reports of potential meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Iran had been negotiating with President Donald Trump's administration before Israel began an unprovoked attack, which Washington later joined.
Araghchi and Witkoff met five times, starting in April, without concluding a deal, before Israel launched a 12-day war.
"We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed military aggression against Iran", said Baqaei.
Deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said last Thursday that Iran was willing to restart talks if the US would renounce the use of military force.
The US launched its own set of strikes on Iran on June 22, hitting three nuclear sites, but extent of the damage they caused remains unknown and hotly disputed.
With its own strikes, numbering in the hundreds, Israel – an undeclared nuclear power and not a party to international non-proliferation treaties – killed nuclear scientists and top-ranking military officers, as well as hundreds of civilians.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, while also hitting a US military base in Qatar with a largely symbolic retaliatory strike. A fragile ceasefire announced by Trump on June 23 has since held.
Cover photo: Collage: engin akyurt & Ben Mater / Unsplash