Iran insists on indirect talks with US envoy over N-plan

Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday said he will meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for the first negotiations under the Trump administration seeking to halt Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme as tensions remain high in West Asia.

Speaking to Iranian state television from Algeria, Abbas Araghchi maintained the talks would be indirect, likely with Omani mediators shuttling between the two parties.

US President Donald Trump, in announcing the negotiations, had described them as being direct talks. He said talks would take place on Saturday.

Years of indirect talks under the Biden administration failed to reach any success, as Tehran now enriches uranium up to 60% purity — a technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

Both the US and Israel have threatened Iran with military attack over the programme, while officials in Tehran increasingly warn they could potentially pursue a nuclear bomb. “Indirect is our preference. And we have no plan to alter it to direct,” Aranghci said.

Iran is approaching weekend talks with little confidence in progress and deep suspicions over US intentions, Iranian officials told media.

A source briefed on US planning for the talks confirmed that Witkoff would lead the US delegation and that the discussions would be broad in the search for a nuclear deal and would not be technical in nature.

“This is still coming together,” the source added.

Tehran would want to see concrete gestures from the United States before any face-to-face talks between Iranian and US officials, Iranian and regional sources said.

“The Iranians told us that direct talks are possible but there has to be a goodwill gesture. Lift some sanctions or unfreeze some money,” a regional diplomat said.

Russia backs either direct or indirect talks between Iran and the US as a chance to de-escalate tensions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, adding, “We know that certain contacts, direct and indirect, are planned in Oman.”